CH extra 3

Xia Wennan brought the documents with him and took the subway. In the midst of the crowded passengers, he clutched the strap hanging overhead with one hand and hugged the documents to his chest with his other hand.

Upon reaching his destination, he made his way out of the subway and had to walk for nearly ten minutes under the scorching sun before he could duck inside the air conditioned building of Ming Yan’s headquarters.

The Ming Yan building was already quite old. The drop ceiling and decorative wall that greeted you upon entrance revealed Ming Yan’s former glory as well as its current decline. They were long out of fashion; when Xia Wennan first joined the company, he heard that senior management wanted to renovate the building, but they had never been able to come up with the budget for it.

Xia Wennan had only taken two steps forward when he heard his name called, and when he looked over his shoulder, he saw his beta friend, Wang Zheng, whom he’d met when he first joined the company.

They had met while both were waiting for job interviews. They sat and chatted for a long time back then, and they ended up adding each other on WeChat.

Wang Zheng, who now worked in marketing, wore a suit and tie. He raised a hand to wave at Xia Wennan.

Wang Zheng was out walking with three others. Xia Wennan didn’t know them, so he simply nodded his head in greeting before walking with them to the elevator.

Wang Zheng was a bright and talkative guy. He made small talk with Xia Wennan all the way to the elevator, where he reached out to press the button. He only stopped talking when he looked up and saw that the elevator was going down.

The elevator doors opened slowly; Xia Wennan looked up to see that there were already four or five people inside, and standing at the very front was the tall alpha he had met the night before, Ming Luchuan.

The overhead elevator lights illuminated Ming Luchuan’s handsome face. It was tinged with an icy paleness that presented a perfect harmony with the detached look in his eyes.

The people waiting outside the elevator all called out “Manager Ming” while reflexively taking a step back to make way for him.

Only Xia Wennan, who was habitually indolent in the labs, was a second too slow. When Ming Luchuan strode out of the elevator, his arm collided with Xia Wennan’s and scattered the documents in his hands to the floor.

Xia Wennan looked down at the papers strewn across the floor. He couldn’t help but cast a glance at Ming Luchuan, only to find that Ming Luchuan staring back. His stormy expression remained unchanged; his eyes flickered away as soon as they landed on Xia Wennan, and he was quickly on his way.

The others inside the lift came to a halt. An omega in their midst bent down to help Xia Wennan gather the documents before chasing after Ming Luchuan.

Xia Wennan only found that omega familiar at the time, and it wasn’t until he got in the elevator did he remember that he was Ming Siyan, the company’s other vice president.

The moment the elevator doors closed, the people inside started a conversation about Ming Luchuan and Ming Siyan, most likely due to the fact that the latter wanted to establish a new R&D department and eventually shift the company’s main business from perfumes to cosmetics.

“That’s because the current bunch of perfumers in the labs are all trash,” someone said.

Wang Zheng immediately cleared his throat and elbowed the man beside him.

Despite the fact that Xia Wennan was standing in the very front and couldn’t see anything, he could guess what Wang Zheng was doing. After all, he came from the labs, and he was one of the so-called “Trash Perfumers” these people had dubbed.

It was nearly midday when Xia Wennan handed over the documents. Wang Zheng had invited Xia Wennan to lunch, so Xia Wennan stuck around.

The two left the company and found a quiet restaurant, then sat down to eat and talk.

In fact, Xia Wennan and Wang Zheng had little personal contact; their relationship was that of relatively close coworkers, and their conversation primarily revolved around company matters.

Since Wang Zheng worked at the company headquarters, he was more informed on the company’s current situation. He mentioned that Ming Siyan wanted to establish a new R&D department, which meant that the old R&D department he and Ming Luchuan were in charge of was in dire straits.

After he finished speaking, Wang Zheng picked up his glass and sipped his water. “To be honest, Ming Yan is in a fairly tight spot right now,” he continued after setting his glass back down. “I’m looking for a new job already.”

“Ah?” Given how recently he and Wang Zheng and Xia Wennan had joined the company, Xia Wennan was a little taken aback.

Wang Zheng gave him a meaningful look, as though working in the company headquarters provided him with more useful information and a broader perspective than Xia Wennan. “If you don’t want to leave, at least try to figure out how you can transfer to a new lab,” he advised in a consoling tone. “You’ll at least be much better off than you are now.”

Xia Wennan returned to his rented apartment that night, exhausted. He couldn’t even bring himself to shower or change his clothes after entering his apartment, instead sprawling on his bed for a quick nap.

The air was still hot and stuffy, and even with the windows open, not much cold air was coming in.

Xia Wennan paused before reaching for the remote and turning on the air conditioner. He had intended to shower first before turning it on—at the very least, he could’ve reduced his monthly electricity bill.

Along with the oppressive heat, Wang Zheng’s words earlier today also had an impact on Xia Wennan. Even without considering his career advancement and future prospects, Xia Wennan was dissatisfied with his current job, and a change of scenery might be better for him.

He also thought back to when Ming Luchuan bumped into him and knocked his documents to the floor in front of the elevator doors earlier today, and how he’d left without even so much as a sound out of his mouth. Ming Luchuan had clearly seen him at the time, just as he had clearly sent Ming Luchuan home the night before—Ming Luchuan had even thanked him—but in the end, he turned his back on Xia Wennan in the blink of an eye.

With senior leadership like that, it was understandable why the entire department—and perhaps even the entire company—was barely making progress. But Xia Wennan was a mere employee—he doesn’t empathise with capitalists, and if he can’t work here, then he can just switch to another company.

He sighed, rolled over, and climbed out of bed, which was when his phone suddenly vibrated.

Xia Wennan grabbed his phone and saw a WeChat message from Chocolate Truffles. He only glanced at it and, too lazy to respond, tossed the phone aside as he walked to the bathroom.

One afternoon, Xia Wennan sat down in Xu Zong’s office.

Just like in the old laboratory building, Xu Zong’s office was located in the best spot. In the morning, you could bask in the gentle sunlight, and as the temperature rose in the afternoon, the entire room fell right under the shade, and its conditioning was very cool.

Xu Zong sat behind his desk with his left leg crossed over his right, hands clasped together, and his head slightly tilted backwards as he looked at Xia Wennan. “I’ve read your project proposal for R&D of pheromone perfumes, and I don’t think it’ll be necessary to submit it to the company.”

Xia Wennan remained calm. He was even somewhat lackadaisical. “Really.”

Xu Zong said, “You seem a little out of touch with reality. It’s not that the company has never carried out an R&D project for pheromone perfumes. There have been brilliant alpha and omega research teams in the past, none of which have succeeded, and well, you’re just a beta…” He trailed off, as though Xia Wennan should understand what he was getting at without him having to finish his sentence.

“Did you take a proper look at my proposal?” asked Xia Wennan.

Xu Zong snorted. “Of course I did. You can’t possibly believe that the only difficulty pheromone perfumes present is in extracting pheromone transmitters, can you? How much funding would you need from the company to develop a perfume like yours from scratch? Now that Ming Yan’s focus has begun to shift, there’s no way the company will invest money in this hopeless pheromone perfume project again

Xia Wennan nodded. When he got up to take his leave, he felt the phone in his pants pocket vibrate.

When he walked out of his office, he took out his phone and was greeted by another WeChat message from He Yufeng. The content was similar to the message he’d sent last night—a job offer.

Chocolate Truffles was Xia Wennan’s senior in university and graduate school. His real name was He Yufeng. Working for He Yufeng’s company was the last thing Xia Wennan wanted, so he didn’t want to give He Yufeng’s offer an immediate reply.

Upon returning to the lab, he stopped by his desk, opened the drawer, and took out his letter of resignation.