Chapter 1

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

HALO Video Production Inc. resided on the 7th floor of this high-end office block.

Aside from HALO, the floor was home to more than 20 other companies.

About 10 meters from the elevator was a lounge– this lounge acted as a break room for everybody who worked on the 7th floor. Furnished with two grand billiard tables and a few large settees, it gave the employees of this floor a space for them to take time off and relax– perhaps to drink coffee and bathe in the sun’s rays. The break room played host to friendships between the seventh floor’s designers, PR experts, venture capitalists, legal aides, and all other manner of professionally unrelated professionals. And so, naturally, it acted as the seventh floor’s gossip centre.

As for today’s hot topic of gossip… well, they say two male employees from HALO were seen holding hands.

Two men stood in the lounge at 11 o’clock this morning, a strange atmosphere engulfing them. The two had complex expressions on their faces– and to add to the complexity, they were holding each other’s hands.

The man on the left was Zheng Yi [1], the new visual director of HALO. Zheng Yi was the son of a wealthy family, and, rumour had it, his love for video production led him to join the boutique company. His reason? To “live like common people”.

[1] Zhèng Yī’s name (郑一) is pronounced roughly as “jung ee”. His surname is “郑Zhèng“, and his name is “一Yī“, meaning “one/each/whole/etc.” The word “正义ZhèngYì” is a homonym of his name meaning “righteous”.

Zheng Yi’s tailored lounge suit fitted his form well, but his tie clip dangled lopsidedly, and the collar of his shirt was wrinkled and pulled to one side. Every now and then, those calm eyes of his would glare sharply at the onlookers in the room.

And as for the other man– the one with the wet hair, his name was Chen Gong [2], assistant director of the Visual Department and the backbone of HALO.

[2] Chén Gōng’s name (陈攻) is pronounced roughly as “chun gohng”. His surname is “陈Chén“, and his name is “攻Gōng“, meaning “to attack”.

In sharp contrast to the formal feel of the entire office block, he was dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants that tightly hugged his ankles. Right under the brief patch of skin revealed beneath the cusp of his pants were his black, suede ankle boots. His upper body was clad in an ill-fitting black company T-shirt that stretched tightly across his broad torso.

However, he didn’t seem to be too concerned about any of this, simply gazing out the window with knitted eyebrows.

Oddly, because the two were holding hands so reluctantly, it came across rather casually… much like a pair of quarrelling lovers you’d see on the street.

The bright morning sunlight from the floor-to-ceiling windows shone across their faces as if it were a real-life photo filter. Were it not for the clear expressions of disgust present on their faces, one would think that they were the aesthetic epitome of a picturesque moment…

… It was truly a moving scene to behold.

—— “Section 2, Clause 1.2- If any physical altercation should arise between staff, not only will 20% of each respective party’s monthly salary be cut, but the two parties involved must hold hands whilst standing for an hour.”

In the year and a half since HALO’s Human Resource Department implemented this rule, there had not been a single fight between anybody in the 40-person large company. Often, in the midst of hissed insults and clenched fists, one would think of the rule, blush, and bury the hatchet.

Even the most vulgar insults felt like a hidden confession along the lines of “I just want to hold your hand.”

But inevitably, a company of this size would have a few wealthier or more indifferent employees. Case in point: after the meeting this morning, Zheng Yi returned to his department and poured a whole energy drink out on Chen Gong’s head, and Chen Gong responded by punching him square in the chin.

Professionals act efficiently; they don’t waste time with words. Without a single utterance, the fight was over before their colleagues even had the chance to react.

Zheng Yi’s reason for pouring his drink over Chen Gong was because he found him “dirty”.

–

Around 9 o’clock the night before, right before Zheng Yi received the “S.O.S.” call, he’d been belting out “Wolves Love Sheep” [3] on the karaoke machine to entertain Yang Yi [4]. Yang Yi was acting the part of the little lamb running about, with Zheng Yi as the drooling wild wolf in hot pursuit. The atmosphere in the karaoke room was both exquisite and delightful, and Zheng Yi had perhaps had a drop too much to drink. He didn’t mean to pick up when the unknown caller interrupted their “Wolf and Sheep Love Ballad”, but when he attempted to hang up, he accidentally pressed “Answer” due to his blurred vision.

[3] They were singing a song called “Wolves Love Sheep”, which is a 2006 song by Chinese artist Tang Chao. You can find it here.

[4] Yáng Yì’s name (杨翊) is pronounced roughly as “yahng ee”. His surname is “杨Yáng“, and his name is “翊Yì“, meaning “to assist/to fly/wing”.

From the phone came a timid girl’s voice: “Director Zheng… I’m very sorry for bothering you at this time of the night, but… please, save me!”

The weight of the phrase “save me” shocked Zheng Yi sober from his drunken torpor.

Thus awakened from his dreams of the wolf’s woods, he hurriedly asked “What’s the matter?” and signalled with his eyes to Yang Yi: “Something’s come up, you go ahead!” Zheng Yi put down his microphone and ran to the doors of the toilet, where it was quieter, to take the call.

“It’s been three hours since my shift ended, but Assistant Director Chen isn’t letting me go home; and he’s being… a bit disrespectful.”

“What do you mean? Did Chen Gong…” Zheng Yi’s eyebrows furrowed – the words “violate” perched on the edge of his lips for several moments, though ultimately changing it to “bother” – “…you?”

“Yes! I had to pretend to go to the washroom so I could call you…” The girl’s voice was very soft, as if afraid of being detected, and her tone had hints of anxiety: “I’m so scared… Assistant Director Chen won’t let me go home, and he said… he said I should catch a ride with him…”

At this point came an outburst of sobbing from the phone.

Zheng Yi’s head flamed at the girl’s tearful report.

Zheng Yi was his very namesake — “zhengyi”, after all, meant “righteous”. Even as a child he’d always been clear-eyed and strong-minded, knowing exactly what he liked, and what he didn’t.

He imagined Chen Gong laughing maniacally, barring a female intern’s escape with his well-muscled chest. The mental image sent Zheng Yi’s thoughts into a frenzy. He couldn’t help but gag. Part of him was thankful that he had not rejected the call earlier, while another was overcome with guilt imagining what could have happened had he not picked up; yet another was filled with deep hatred for Chen Gong, and another with concern for the safety of the intern.

After furiously smoking his cigarette, Zheng Yi took control of his temper, trying to cool his inflamed mind. To the intern, he intoned, “Don’t go back to the office, go straight home! As for Chen Gong, don’t worry. I’ll take care of it for you, really, don’t worry!

The intern repeated “Okay, thank you Director Zheng” in a nasal tone, and finally hung up.

Zheng Yi tried to organise his thoughts, chewing on a tongue thickened by alcohol. At last he called up Chen Gong. “Hey, motherfucker.What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Upon hearing the loud karaoke music in the background, Chen Gong let out an impatient “tch”, and replied, “While you were out partying, I’ve been working overtime.”

Zheng Yi, unaccustomed to such an attitude, felt the blood and alcohol rushing to his head in anger. “What the hell were you doing to our intern, you motherfucker?!”, he shouted into his phone.

“Stop saying ‘motherfucker’”. Chen Gong, with his signature aloof demeanour, replied to Zheng Yi’s yelling in a light tone: “I asked an intern to stay back late – I may only be an assistant director, but surely I needn’t ask your permission for this, hm?”

Zheng Yi especially hated when his high spirits were met with a calm “so-what” attitude, and thus he yelled even more heatedly: “Chen Gong, I’m warning you, motherfucker, if you so much as touch a hair on that girl’s head, there won’t be a place in Beijing that’ll take you in after I’m done with you!”

This shout frightened Yang Yi so much that he stopped the karaoke music.

After a moment of silence, Chen Gong let out a soft cold laugh. With the tone of one turning aside an annoying child, he uttered, “Don’t call me when you’re drunk,” and hung up.

Zheng Yi’s fury was palpable. He caught sight of his reflection in the mirror – his flush had travelled down his face to his neck. Stamping out his cigarette, he redialed to no avail – Chen Gong simply refused to pick up.

Though he’d confirmed three times over that the intern had safely returned home, Zheng Yi still felt unusually enraged by Chen Gong’s “obscene behaviour”. He found himself unable to enjoy the rest of his evening with Yang Yi. Even after getting home, he slept poorly, his mind preoccupied with the best way to face that “old thug” at the office tomorrow.

So the next day, right after a morning meeting, a still-hungover Zheng Yi marched over to Chen Gong’s cubicle and poured his energy drink over Chen Gong’s head without a word.

Zheng Yi’s personality had always been this way – he talked big, and he walked it too.

–

The two worked in a company called HALOstudio, a “cutting-edge, high-end, bespoke” studio corp. Their main line of business was a personalised travel photography service targeted at young adults.

Zheng Yi was the director of the Visual Department, and Chen Gong was the assistant director. In other words, Zheng Yi was Chen Gong’s direct supervisor.

Friction had been sparking between the two since Zheng Yi began working there.

The reason was obvious to any casual observer.

Since HALOstudio’s inception, Chen Gong had been its longest-serving employee, carrying the weight of the company on his shoulders. When the previous visual director was transferred away, he was clearly the man most suited for the job. But right when everyone was prepared to call him “Director Chen”, Zheng Yi came in from out of nowhere and kicked him off the podium.

Absolutely humiliating.

So it made perfect sense that the proud Chen Gong would be dissatisfied with the “interloping Director Zheng Yi”.

Even so, Chen Gong wasn’t small-minded enough to bully Zheng Yi (who, by the way, was three years younger than he was).

It was true that he wasn’t happy, but since they worked in the same department, Chen Gong was already emotionally prepared to put his dissatisfaction aside, to support Zheng Yi and work together.

The only thing he did that could possibly qualify as “bullying” was his stubborn avoidance of all non-work topics with Zheng Yi.

So while Chen Gong was cold, and the name “Gong” did mean “attacker”, his personality was not at all aggressive.

Zheng Yi was the complete opposite. He was a fiery-tempered man, the very stereotype of a rich, spoiled “young master”.

Well, I took the first step of talking to you, but now you’re putting on airs, so that means you don’t like me. Since you don’t like me, I’ll pay you back in kind.

And so it went.

Zheng Yi tried to be friendly to Chen Gong at first, but after repeated failure, he and Chen Gong quickly became nemeses – if Chen Gong were to prefer plan A, Zheng Yi would prefer plan B; if he wanted to go east, the other would make him go west. At the end of the day, despite being three years younger, Zheng Yi was still Chen Gong’s direct supervisor, so “hadn’t you better listen to my orders”?

Such were the developments that led to the incident today.

That the two of them would have such a relationship at this stage… well, to Qiu Mang’s [5] eyes as an observer, the matter was wholly unsurprising, and she had nothing to say other than “wow, they’re both idiots”.

[5] Qiū Máng’s name (秋芒) is pronounced roughly as “chyo mong”. Her surname is “秋Qiū” (I could only find sources for her surname’s history in Chinese since it’s so rare, sorry), and her name is “芒Máng“, meaning “awn (a type of plant)”. She was also a side character in Liang Azha’s manhua “Starting With a Lie”! You can find our translations of it here and the author’s original raws here.

Qiu Mang was HALO’s head of HR.

Right after the morning meeting, Qiu Mang returned to her office. She had just begun eating her boiling hot oden while looking at the equally hot new idol her colleagues had been talking about, when the Visual Department called.

“Ms Qiu? Director Zheng and Assistant Director Chen are fighting!”

The fish ball she’d so painstakingly caught between her chopsticks took flight, bouncing onto the table and into the nearby bin.

She felt a bit suffocated.

–

Author’s note:

I switched novel platforms… I couldn’t take the other one…

I heard this pairing’s atmosphere was alright, so please, enjoy! *Bows*!

–

Credits:

Author – Liang Azha (Weibo|Twitter)

Raws – Nandemonaiya

Translation – Nandemonaiya, Zhiming

Proofreading – Nandemonaiya, Nicholas, Terukutie, Zhiming

Join our Discord for more updates & don’t forget to support the author!

> Chapter 2: The Lecturing Incident

Like this:Like Loading...

Related