Chapter 4

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

>> CW: Mention of rape and cybersex trafficking towards the end.

Recently, HALO began offering travel photography services in cooperation with tourist attractions. They were negotiating with one such scenic spot on the outskirts of Chengdu [1] at the moment.

[1] Chengdu (成都, pronounced chuhng doo) is the capital of Sichuan province.

Since a scenic area could provide a studio with a beautiful shooting location, while the studio could produce excellent promotional material for the area, cooperation was common between these circles.

Being Sichuanese, Chen Gong logically became Mr Wang’s first choice to be sent to Chengdu.

Zheng Yi had bumped into Chen Gong in the HR department right before he left for the airport with his leave slips.

He felt that the black marks of slandering and then complaining about Chen Gong would now be impossible to scrub clean. After calming down and reflecting on the situation — how he’d rushed to HR in agitation to ask about Chen Gong’s whereabouts — “Zheng Yi reporting Chen Gong to HR for skipping work” was a perfectly legitimate interpretation.

Frustrated with his recklessness, he rushed back to the visual department, heated head in hand.

At 2:30p.m, Zheng Yi glared at the americano he’d bought for Chen Gong with gritted teeth.

At 3:30p.m, Zheng Yi felt a growing kinship with the americano – sour and bitter.

At 4:30p.m, Zheng Yi began to resent Chen Gong — “that stubborn asshole!”

At 5:30p.m, Zheng Yi suddenly attained enlightenment, finally understanding that everything that happened today happened for a reason. This morning, he’d cornered Chen Gong unjustly; now he himself was mistakenly charged with “reporting Chen Gong”. This was karma in the present life, pre-reincarnation. This was a burden he deserved.

On the bright side, the moment he finished work, Yang Yi texted —

Lil’ Sheep Yi 30 Sep 18:01

Zheng ge, can you organise things first? I still have some work to settle.

Lil’ Sheep Yi 30 Sep 18:01

Sorry, I’ll pay you back tonight. :naughty_smile:

Zheng Yi facepalmed. He’d almost forgotten about the little sheep.

Now that he remembered it, his worldly desires returned to take over his mind. The messy affair with Chen Gong disappeared without a trace. Zheng Yi swiftly packed up his things and headed straight down to the B2 parking lot. As his car pulled out the exit, a call came from Qiu Mang.

Zheng Yi put on his earphones. “What is it, my great lady Qiu?”

“I just came over to your desk and you were gone! That was quick!” Qiu Mang complained. After complaining, she then asked, “Wanna get some dip-boiled mutton?”

Zheng Yi let out a “pfft”. “My dear sister, I have a pretty, prancing, little white lamb waiting for me! How could I suffer through your earthly offerings?”

Qiu Mang didn’t understand. “What does that mean?”

Zheng Yi’s mouth sped on: “A little lamb has asked for me today, he’s crying and begging to play with me.”

Qiu Mang thought for a long moment. “A little lamb? Oh, you mean that Yang Yi guy from operations?”

“Yep!” Zheng Yi laughed mischievously. “Cheer for me! When we meet again tomorrow, you will see before you a true man!”

Qiu Mang listened to him in a daze. “What are you and Yang Yi… going to do…?”

Zheng Yi was brimming with glee. “Yep!”

Qiu Mang tch-ed. “Fine, don’t come then. Hoes before bros, right?”

Zheng Yi let Qiu Mang curse him out, his lips still curved into a smile. “Right now, nothing is more important than my little lamb — oh, unless you give me your Qiu Tian, in which case I would reluctantly push away my lamb and consider your offer!”

Upon hearing the rogue tease her about her precious baby brother, Qiu Mang spat: “Zheng Yi, have you no shame! Qiu Tian already has a boyfriend way better than you! And even if he didn’t, I wouldn’t let you near him!”

Zheng Yi tsked. “Fine, fine, I won’t touch him! I have my little lamb, awoo–”

Qiu Mang hung up.

–

Zheng Yi had always been open about not being straight.

When he first came to HALO and introduced himself, a female coworker jokingly asked, “are you short of a girlfriend?” Having been asked such a personal question, Zheng Yi laughed and replied: “Well… I’m afraid it’s a boyfriend I’m short of!”

— This was how Zheng Yi managed to meet Yang Yi.

At the team building activity last month, as a drunken Zheng Yi squatted by the backdoor of the bar to smoke, Yang Yi sat by his side and said, “Director Zheng, I can introduce a boyfriend to you–”

Zheng Yi blew out a smoke ring, then turned to face the stranger beside him, waiting for him to continue.

Only to see Yang Yi smiling sheepishly, a small dimple appearing in his cheek. He hesitated for a while before laughing at himself and burying his head in his hands, as if upset. “Ah, I wanted to try one of those internet pickup lines and say something like ‘and that boyfriend is me’ — man, I messed that up…”

Zheng Yi was so amused he choked on his smoke, half laughing and half violently coughing.

Yang Yi was about to flee at this point, but Zheng Yi called out to him: “What’s your name?”

“I’m Yang Yi,” he said. “If you want my contact details — I’m sure the visual department director would have access to them.”

And then he left.

Zheng Yi was not someone with a great deal of emotional experience. Upon meeting this “failed” yet special confession, Zheng Yi was quickly baited by Yang Yi.

Fortunately he was already good friends with Qiu Mang before he entered the company, so getting Yang Yi’s contact details wasn’t much of an issue. As they grew more familiar with each other, the cuteness that saturated Yang Yi’s behaviour endeared him to Zheng Yi; the unclear nature of their relationship and interactions continued as if it wasn’t Yang Yi who had confessed, but Zheng Yi who cherished Yang Yi like a precious treasure.

And now things were coming to a head…

— “Don’t let Zheng Yi go anywhere tonight!”

“Huh?” Qiu Mang picked up Chen Gong’s phone call just as she entered the hot pot shop with her friends. Hearing Chen Gong’s order the moment she picked up, Qiu Mang couldn’t quite comprehend. “…What happened?”

For some reason, perhaps because of a bad connection, Chen Gong’s voice sounded broken and distorted. “He can’t… go anywhere! … Because… there’s still work at the visual department!”

“But — I can’t control what he does. He’s finished work already…”

The announcement coming down the line suggested that the plane had just landed. Chen Gong’s voice was as serious and flat as ever. “Remember the lazy intern? The files that were supposed to be sent to the client today are still missing the poster she was in charge of. Make sure Zheng Yi stays at home tonight and finishes the poster by midnight, or the client will be furious!”

Qiu Mang snorted as she took off her coat. “Assistant Director Chen, this is a matter that’s internal to your department, why do you need me to pass the message? Tell him yourself.”

Chen Gong’s reply was brusque: “I can’t be bothered to talk to him!”

Every time she had to deal with these two idiots, Qiu Mang felt exceedingly drained. She thought for a moment, and said, “Chen Xuezhang, Zheng Yi is younger than you. Just because he’s childish, that doesn’t mean you can be too! Honestly, Zheng Yi wasn’t reporting you to HR this afternoon, he just wanted to apologise but couldn’t find you. He’s a prideful brat, just treat him as a slightly bad-tempered younger brother. Call him for work reasons and give him an out. Wouldn’t that resolve everything?”

Chen Gong didn’t accept Qiu Mang’s well-meaning advice. “I don’t know how to give him an out. If he wants to apologise, he’ll do the work for the client.”

“He can’t tonight– He has a date.”

“I kno… I don’t care if he has a date with the Weaver Girl [2] herself, he can’t go! If he doesn’t finish this, the company loses its client. Let him weigh the trade-off himself!”

[2] “The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl” is a Chinese love story – the two can only meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese calendar (celebrated as Qixi Festival… which’ll coincidentally be next week as of this upload haha ).

Qiu Mang conceded to her idiotic Xuezhang. “Fine, you take care of the location surveying, I’ll try my best to get in touch with Zheng Yi.”

Unrelenting, the caller responded, “Not ‘try’ – you’ve gotta!”

Qiu Mang mumbled “mhm” and hung up.

Upon hanging up, Qiu Mang suddenly realised how strange things were. Having known him for several years, Chen Gong’s cold demeanour was something Qiu Mang was intimately familiar with. If she remembered correctly, this would be the first time Chen Gong had been so emotional about anything. Though Chen Gong looked icy and disdainful, in reality he was not the least bit aggressive, much like a large herbivorous dinosaur. Even if he found himself in a sticky situation, he wouldn’t moan and groan like Zheng Yi, but take everything in stride. There was no way he would intentionally make things hard for Zheng Yi. Yet, if Chen Gong was really looking for someone to handle the work… Sure, there were people slacking off in the department, but there was no shortage of diligent workers either. Any of them could cover for the intern. Why did he single out Zheng Yi?

She had no clue what Chen Gong was thinking.

Qiu Mang stared blankly at the menu for ages before her friends began to bug her; she started, handing the menu over: “Order some fishballs and a shrimp cake for me. The rest is up to you.”

Then she excused herself to go to the restroom.

–

At that moment, Zheng Yi was grimacing at his reflection in the hotel bathroom, examining his mouth.

When he was punched in the face by Chen Gong this morning, he had bitten into the tip of his tongue and his lips. Now his wounds began to flare up again; his jaw was still swollen, and the skin discoloured by bruising. The swelling was even worse than it had been during the day – it seemed to have grown exponentially.

“Fuck, how am I supposed to kiss Xiao Yang now…”

Zheng Yi quickly called the front desk and asked for ice. When the ice arrived, so did Qiu Mang’s tentative feeler text: “Are you guys fucking right now?”

Zheng Yi put on a sullen expression and found a crying emoji on his keyboard. “Xiao Yang’s still at the office, he’s not done with work!”

Qiu Mang called. “Is the big bad wolf hungry?”

Zheng Yi thought: “Exactly, hungry in so many ways.”

Just as he was about to complain to Qiu Mang, she added, “Or should I say… how will the big bad wolf eat with a swollen jaw?”

Pricked in his wound, Zheng Yi fumed: “Your Chen Xuezhang is so cruel!”

“You deserved it. If you hadn’t slandered him, would he have hit you?”

Zheng Yi shut up.

Qiu Mang continued, “Your department’s file for the client, is it done?”

“It’s done… I think? I’m not sure, Chen Gong’s usually in charge of this.”

“Hey, you’re the director! You’re always shirking and making people do your work, no wonder my xuezhang’s so annoyed with you!”

Zheng Yi pressed the ice to his face, as if the swelling would subside quicker the harder he pressed. “What, no– I take care of a lot of stuff!”

“Fine then. Let me ask you: the work the intern didn’t finish today — isn’t it meant to be done before the holidays? Find a way to fix the mess she’s left, don’t lose us a client.” Qiu Mang left out the part about Chen Gong asking him to personally handle it. It was better not to raise tensions between the two again.

“Fine, I’ll handle it once I hang up,” Zheng Yi said of the work. But clearly other matters were at the forefront of his mind. “Sis, what do you think I should do? I’m so worried right now. I know I usually run my mouth off and talk dirty like it’s nothing, but now it’s the real deal and I don’t know anything!”

Qiu Mang listened to Zheng Yi’s distress and cackled like a flying goose. The idiot was just howling like a wolf, but now he seemed like a lost little lamb. What a child. “Go do some research then — but finish your work first!”

Zheng Yi smacked his forehead. “Fine, fine, enough talking, I’m gonna go do some research!”

Qiu Mang said “okay” and ended the call.

Zheng Yi lay on the bed and heatedly searched for reference material.

Zheng Yi remembered that there was a groupchat where his scummy-ass friends shared their “artistic videos”. He found the group and clicked on the videos at random, scrubbing and fast-forwarding each one, but they all seemed dull.

Just as he was about to turn off his screen in frustration, Zheng Yi’s eye was caught by a fuzzy thumbnail for a clip. The file name was filled with typos and leetspeak: “w1ld rp3 – playing w drnk boi“.

He opened it. There was a logo on the top left corner: “Mosaic” something.

That wasn’t important. What was important was that the picture quality was poor, as if secretly taken with a phone or digital videocam, and the contents didn’t look like a performance but a real recording…

Zheng Yi stared at the video for a long while, frowning unconsciously. He tried to zoom in.

It was different from the earlier clips. This one seemed to be a real-life recording of an assault. The perpetrator was speaking in some unknown dialect, while the victim appeared to have passed out, completely unaware of what was going on. The whole clip gave Zheng Yi no pleasure; rather, he felt deeply nauseated.

And most importantly, the victim…

Zheng Yi replayed it over and over, confirming it from every angle…

It was definitely Chen Gong.

–

T/N: Is there at least one misunderstanding per chapter?

Credits:

Author – Liang Azha (Weibo|Twitter)

Raws – Nandemonaiya

Translation – Nandemonaiya

Proofreading – Nandemonaiya, Terukutie, Zhiming

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< Chapter 3: The Failed Apology Incident

> Chapter 5: The Emergency Dispatch Incident

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