Chapter 1

Earth Federation, Zhongzhou.

Night.

The night sky, as dark as ink, resembled a goddess draped in a mysterious veil. Beneath the sky, the lights of countless homes twinkled brightly, like the prying eyes of mischievous onlookers.

Yangcheng, Ningxin District.

Ding ding ding~~

Gurgling~~

A series of urgent notification sounds came from a fifty-square-meter room. Inside, the sound of boiling water and a strong smell of alcohol filled the air. "Ah~" With a belch, Su Dapeng swayed and grabbed a small handful of tea leaves. After confirming the position of the teacup several times, he finally let go and dropped the leaves into the cup. Before he could show a satisfied expression, another urgent notification sounded in his ear.

The sounds were rapid and very noisy...

Hearing the urgent, almost life-threatening sounds, Su Dapeng couldn't help but show a hint of displeasure. He immediately reached for his phone, but perhaps because he had drunk too much, his body swayed, and it took him several tries to finally grab the ringing phone. He opened an app called "WeChat" and clicked on a group named "Bu Tuo Culture." He saw a message from someone with the nickname "Boss" in the group.

Below the voice message, someone with the nickname "Secretary" replied: "Received, Boss. Thank you for your hard work, everyone don't forget to reply!"

Seeing this reply, Su Dapeng couldn't help but picture a secretary who loved to wear tight clothes and pants.

She never cooked when she came home, never helped with the children's homework, and at the appointed time, she would dance with her male friend, wearing tight clothes and pants, causing family breakups. Even the old men watching couldn't stand it, getting so angry they stood up from their wheelchairs, pointing at her and wanting to dance with her.

She also liked to drink with her male friend, lamenting the shortness of life and the difficulty of finding a true friend, drinking until dawn. When her husband talked to her, she said it was a stain on their pure friendship, and when caught in a hotel, she said they were just playing cards.

It sounded like two gambling gods were having a one-on-one match in bed?

Her ex-husband ran to the company to cause trouble, divorced her, and then ran back to the village. Even with three children, she still claimed to be very innocent, demanding a car, a house, and savings. In the city, she was a free-for-all, but in the village, she was worth hundreds of thousands. He wondered, what deep grudge, what great resentment?

Male colleagues at the company were affected, and people from neighboring companies thought they had a thing.

The divorce rate increased by several percentage points.

As soon as he opened the app, he heard the voice of "Boss": "Project proposal next Friday, let's finish the plan tonight. Secretary, create a group for the core project members and have everyone who is not directly involved work overtime. We are a team, we need to be united and share the benefits!"

Su Dapeng laughed and pressed the voice message, saying, "Hey, buddy, I want to ask, the proposal is next Friday, and you want it done today, with everyone working overtime. What are you thinking?"

Boss: "?"

Secretary: "?"

Operations Department Xiao Zhang: "?"

HR Department Xiao Li: "?"

Ignoring these replies, Su Dapeng continued, "You say it's a cultural company, but there's no culture at all. It's like a fraud gang. Everyone works overtime and shouts slogans, which has driven everyone crazy. We dream about shouting slogans at night, and we have to work overtime for free. You make a hundred people work hard, but we don't earn any money, and our bodies are drained. We work on a plan until the end of time, and you say we need to learn to run fast, even though we have no skills. You create a lot of groups and demand immediate replies, or you get angry, saying it's basic respect. Do you respect us?"

"At midnight, we still have to reply 'received' to earn this money, and we can't sleep well!"

"You send motivational quotes and require likes. If someone doesn't like, they are considered a slacker."

"When it comes to a raise, you say, 'Don't ask what the company can do for you, but what you can do for the company.'"

"I think I can be your father, making up for the lack of fatherly love in your childhood, satisfying your misplaced filial piety!"

"You talk about dreams... those are your dreams. Everyone's dream is to earn more money... and don't talk about vision. If you pay a few hundred thousand a month, everyone's vision can reach the heavens!"

After sending the message, Su Dapeng saw replies appearing one by one.

Planner Xiao Chen: "Like!"

Operations Department Xiao Zhang: "Awesome!"

HR Department Xiao Li: "Great!"

Manager Sun Zhi: "Like!"

...

Su Dapeng poured boiling water into the teacup for the first rinse.

Looking at the replies on WeChat, he thought for a moment and sent another voice message: "That's all I have to say. Don't ask who I am, since I've been out of the company for almost three months. Yeah, the guys who praised me, you can still retract your messages in time!"

After saying this, Su Dapeng poured more boiling water into the teacup, then poured the tea into a cup.

Whoosh!

Whoosh whoosh~

He took the cup, sipped the tea, and frowned. Then, he heard a sound and turned to look at his phone, muttering, "Garbage."

The phone showed a series of messages, all of which caught Su Dapeng's eye.

It was unclear whether he was referring to the tea or the people.

Planner Xiao Chen has retracted a message.

Operations Department Xiao Zhang has retracted a message.

HR Department Xiao Li has retracted a message.

Manager Sun Zhi: "Boss is right. We are a team, we need to be united and share the benefits. Thank you, Boss!"

Manager Sun Zhi: "I had something to do, so I replied a bit late. Please forgive me, Boss!"

You have been removed from the Bu Tuo Culture group.

Pouring another cup of tea, Su Dapeng took a sip, and the tea slightly diluted his drunken state, his eyes gradually clearing.

Ding~

The notification sound attracted Su Dapeng's attention. He turned and saw a message.

The message was from Sun Zhi, scolding him for speaking recklessly in the group.

"Enough, don't disgust me! Didn't I tell you not to send me messages anymore?" Su Dapeng replied indifferently.

"Just because I didn't give Li Hu a gift during the New Year, you want to cut ties with me? Are you crazy?"

Sun Zhi sent a voice message, his tone full of anger: "It's fine that you bought gifts for my parents during the New Year, but you also bought gifts for Li Hu and asked me to deliver them. If I didn't, you would cut ties with me. Are you crazy? I admit you did it for my good in the past, but now he's not in the company and can't help me. Why do you still want me to give him gifts?"

Su Dapeng chuckled and replied with a voice message: "Yes, Brother Li is down on his luck now. You're not the one who used to beg for help with a few hundred dollars a month. When you first joined the company, everyone looked down on you. You had the lowest education and the lowest salary, and you never had a seat in meetings..."

Sun Zhi angrily said: "You always bring up the past to disgust me?"

"No, I really don't want to disgust you!"

Su Dapeng denied and continued calmly: "Brother Li worked hard to help you, teach you, and protect you with the boss. If not for him, you would have been fired many times and wouldn't be a manager. They say teaching a student will starve the teacher, but Brother Li taught you strategy, business, public relations, and how to navigate the workplace. When the company voted to lay off people, you didn't help him!"

Sun Zhi laughed angrily: "That was the company's decision. Even if I helped, it wouldn't have mattered. Do you blame me for that? Besides, he's doing well now, starting his own business. If I helped him, he might even blame me for blocking his path!"

"Brother Li left the company at the age of thirty-five to start a business. Do you know why?" Su Dapeng shouted angrily.

"Why?"

"Because no company will hire him at his age, no matter how good his skills or character are. After working for a company for a lifetime, once you leave, the bosses interviewing you will choose young, cheap, and obedient workers, not an industry veteran!"

Su Dapeng said calmly: "As a manager, you should know about costs. Young people are cheap. As long as they have a dream, they will work for a meal. Rural young people have no complaints about overtime because their bodies can handle it. Middle-aged people, despite being more experienced, have no advantages. They have to support their parents, educate their children, pay mortgages and car loans, and deal with social obligations, which make them bow down in life. But they have no right to fall. Have you ever thought that without such a mentor to help and support you, you might have been laid off instead of him?"

"Even if that's true, there would be others to help me, and he helped me because I gave him gifts every year."

Sun Zhi laughed coldly.

Su Dapeng shook his head and said: "It's a blessing to have a mentor like Brother Li. You think I'm making you feel humiliated by asking you to give gifts? I want Brother Li to see your warmth and kindness, and for you to believe in moral truth. I've done my best for you."

"Even so, it's a matter between Li Hu and me. You don't have to cut ties with me!"

Sun Zhi said coldly: "Do you think by cutting ties, you can make my parents scold me and make me apologize to you? You should know, they are my parents. No matter how wrong I am, they won't make me apologize to an outsider."

"You're wrong!"

Su Dapeng said calmly: "If the boss doesn't listen, I fire him. You and I have different views, and you don't listen. Keeping you on WeChat is already giving face to your parents. Since you don't want face, we won't contact each other anymore. I'm going to play a game, I'm busy!"

Sun Zhi shouted angrily: "You idiot, you deserve to be poor for life!"

Seeing this insult, Su Dapeng, in a fit of pique, blocked Sun Zhi and his family.