"You have a monthly salary of ten thousand yuan, what's wrong with docking one thousand?" Lin Wanqing suddenly asked. "Tell me, what do you need so much money for?"
Hearing this, Xia Ming instantly became anxious: "Of course, it's for eating! My appetite has been huge lately, I can never eat enough! You know I just graduated and spent two months looking for work. I don't have a single dime left now! Wifey, if you don't give me my salary soon, your Husband won't be around for you to see anymore!"
Xia Ming described his situation very miserably. Sure enough, Lin Wanqing was moved by Xia Ming's words and felt sorry for him. Lin Wanqing also remembered when she graduated back then, she didn't have a penny either. Everything depended on herself. During that time, she suffered grievances and could only bear them herself, with nowhere to even confide. So, for a moment, Lin Wanqing was overflowing with compassion.
"How about... I don't dock your pay?" Lin Wanqing asked, somewhat doubtfully.
"Wifey, you really do feel sorry for your Husband!" Xia Ming said very happily.
Seeing Xia Ming so happy, Lin Wanqing suddenly put on a stern expression and said, "It must be docked! And it must be docked two thousand!"
"Ah... Why?" Xia Ming was instantly stunned.
Just now it was one thousand, how did it become two thousand in the blink of an eye? Two thousand yuan! That's not two yuan, it's one-fifth of his salary!
Meanwhile, Lin Wanqing thought secretly: "They say you men turn bad once you have money, liking to go to KTVs and those shady places. Hmph, this young lady won't let you have it as one wishes! Besides, do you take this President for a fool? You can eat ten thousand yuan worth of food in just one month? Are you the Reincarnated Zhu Bajie¹?"
Seeing Xia Ming's tragic expression, Lin Wanqing didn't know why, but a sense of pleasure surged in her heart, as if teasing Xia Ming like this made her very happy.
"Alright, you can go out now."
Xia Ming exited the office looking glum. After Xia Ming left, Lin Wanqing could no longer hold back and let out a pfft of laughter. However, her face, smooth as white jade, turned red like fiery clouds. She murmured, "When did I become like this? I'm President Lin!"
Thinking this, Lin Wanqing felt increasingly embarrassed.
Of course, Xia Ming didn't see any of this. He left Lin Wanqing's office feeling sulky. He hadn't expected to have two thousand yuan docked. Two thousand yuan! He probably didn't even have two thousand yuan on him right now.
Xia Ming arrived glumly at the work area. At this moment, Wang Tao was staring at him with unfriendly eyes. Xia Ming directly ignored Wang Tao's gaze. Just then, a Supervisor named Chen Xue'e walked over and said, "You must be Xia Ming, the one recruited by President Lin, right?"
"Yes, I am. And you are?" Xia Ming sized up the woman before him. This woman was somewhat voluptuous, with a very trouble-stirring figure, and also very beautiful. Especially today, she wore casual clothes: a black skirt covering her snow-white thighs, and a white blouse on top.
Moreover, this woman carried a mature charm, an allure that somewhat fascinated Xia Ming. However, Xia Ming showed no unusual feeling, instead appearing exceptionally indifferent.
It wasn't that he was a eunuch – otherwise, he wouldn't like Lin Wanqing – but for the sake of his beautiful Wifey whom he had just met, he wasn't willing to cheat. They say the consequences of cheating are very miserable; he didn't want to end up being dragged to the police station like in the TV dramas.
"I am Chen Xue'e, the Supervisor of the Sales Department. The reason I came here is to tell you that your workspace will be over there from now on."
Chen Xue'e then pointed to a nearby desk. The desk wasn't very large; on it were a computer and some other documents. Of course, no one was there, so Xia Ming would be working here next.
"Thank you," Xia Ming nodded and said happily.
"If you run into any difficulties, you can find me. If you don't want to find me, you can also find others to resolve them," Chen Xue'e said.
"Mm-hm," Xia Ming nodded. What difficulties could he have? Besides financial difficulties, he really didn't know what other difficulties there could be.
After Chen Xue'e left, Xia Ming found his seat. He suddenly felt that he too could work in an office; this feeling was really great.
Xia Ming was very happy. He had thought that after graduating from university, perhaps he could only toil alongside his parents in the countryside for the rest of his life. He never expected to have a day where he could sit in an office. If his parents knew, they would definitely be very happy.
Xia Ming then looked around. Many people were bustling about, likely striving for that high commission. However, next to him was a desk covered with cartoon characters. Although there was a partition, it couldn't block Xia Ming's line of sight.
Xia Ming figured this must be a girl's workspace, but it seemed the girl wasn't present, or perhaps she had taken leave.
Xia Ming shook his head. After looking around, he suddenly felt somewhat bored. He had been here for quite some time, and there was nothing for him to do. Xia Ming resignedly booted up the computer. Seeing the screen on the computer, Xia Ming was very happy.
It wasn't that he had never used a computer; he had taken computer classes in school, so he had used one before. But back then, their computers didn't have network cables, so it wasn't much fun. Plus, Xia Ming didn't have much interest in computers anyway, so he hadn't played much.
But the computer in front of him now was for his work! It was as if this computer belonged to him! So, couldn't he do whatever he wanted? Xia Ming turned on the computer. Although he didn't play much, he still knew how to turn it on. After booting it up, he found the desktop was full of commonly used office software. Xia Ming instantly felt somewhat bored. Fortunately, there was also a QQ² login application and a QQ Games application.
Xia Ming somewhat excitedly opened the QQ application and then logged into his QQ account. He didn't even know how many years he had used this QQ account, though he rarely logged on.
After logging into QQ, he saw his avatar continuously flashing. Xia Ming curiously opened the notification. Seeing it was a friend request, Xia Ming was instantly puzzled: "Who is this?"
Then Xia Ming saw the person's screen name: 'I Really Am a Superstar'.
Xia Ming said, amusedly exasperated, "'I Really Am a Superstar'? Well, I Really Am a SuperTycoon!"
Coincidentally, Xia Ming's screen name really was 'I Really Am a SuperTycoon'.
"But the profile picture is black, probably meaning the person isn't online?"
Thinking this, Xia Ming shook his head. He opened QQ Games, found a game called 'Happy Fight the Landlord', and started playing.
He played for the whole morning. His Happy Beans count always hovered around two thousand, neither increasing nor decreasing. He seemed to never tire of it.
"Didi. System Task: Help Lin Wanqing resolve the company's crisis. Reward Host: 100 Honor Points."
"Ah..."
Xia Ming cried out in surprise. Luckily, it was time to get off work now; otherwise, people might have thought he was a crazy person. But Xia Ming was puzzled.
"My Wifey's company seems to be in crisis? But what crisis is my Wifey's company facing? Why don't I know it?"
Xia Ming couldn't figure it out. But since the System issued the task, his Wifey must be in trouble. Lin Wanqing was his Wifey. Although he also liked other girls, out of loyalty to his Wifey, he felt duty-bound. Now someone dared to bully his Wifey? This was simply disregarding him!
Others could bully him, but they couldn't bully his Wifey! Perhaps this was Xia Ming's simple-minded devotion; in his eyes, wives were meant to be loved, especially such a beautiful one. If he didn't love her, he'd deserve to be struck by lightning!
It was noon now; his Wifey had to eat, right? Thinking this, Xia Ming sneaked over towards Lin Wanqing's office. At this moment, Lin Wanqing was still lowering her head, frowning, looking at documents, completely unaware of Xia Ming's arrival.
Just then, Xia Ming suddenly said, "Wifey, shall we go down for lunch?"
"Ah..."
Lin Wanqing was startled by the sudden voice. Seeing it was Xia Ming, Lin Wanqing said, "You go ahead first, I still have work to finish."
Xia Ming didn't care whether Lin Wanqing had finished her work or not. He grabbed Lin Wanqing's hand and started pulling her outside, saying, "Wifey, Man is iron, food is steel; miss one meal and feel hungry! Even if there's a lot of work, you still need to combine work and rest! Look at you, I haven't seen you for a while, and you've already lost weight! I feel distressed just looking at you!"
Xia Ming's words made Lin Wanqing's heart feel warm. She greatly enjoyed the feeling of being cared for. At the same time, some of the gloom from today also disappeared without a trace.
Lin Wanqing smiled sweetly and said, "You're right, no matter what, one has to eat."
"Wifey, you have to be careful. You must have been staying up late all these years, right? Let me tell you, staying up late accelerates aging in girls, and it can also make girls become ugly!" Xia Ming said thoughtfully.
"Ah... How did you know I stay up late?" Lin Wanqing asked in surprise. Recently, she had worried herself sick over company matters, so she would toss and turn at night, unable to sleep.
"How could this possibly stump your husband? Your husband is a Divine Doctor!" Xia Ming said proudly.
Lin Wanqing gave Xia Ming a look askance and snorted, "If you're a divine doctor, then I'm Hua Tuo Living!"
"I really am a Divine Doctor!" Xia Ming said glumly.
"Alright, alright, I believe you, okay?" Lin Wanqing said.
Seeing Lin Wanqing's expression, Xia Ming knew she didn't believe him at all. But according to Lin Wanqing's thinking, if you were a divine doctor, would you have sunk so low? If you were a divine doctor, wouldn't all the major hospitals be fighting to hire you?
So, Lin Wanqing merely thought Xia Ming knew a little bit of simple massage; she didn't believe at all that he knew medical skill.
"Sigh..." Xia Ming sighed. Then, the two left the office.
Translator's Notes:
¹ Zhu Bajie (猪悟能): Also known as Pigsy, one of the main characters in the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West." He is known for his laziness, gluttony (large appetite), and lustfulness.
² Tencent QQ (Chinese: 腾讯QQ), also known as QQ, is an instant messaging software service and web portal developed by the Mainland Chinese technology company Tencent.