Difficult to Complete chapter 15

After hanging up the phone, Shen Qi transferred some money to his parents, reminding them to buy some food and new clothes. It was his way of compensating for not being able to spend New Year’s Day with them.

His mother accepted the money and replied with a rather cold “Mm.”

Shen Qi tossed his phone aside, no longer in the mood for a shower. He lay on the bed in despair, staring up at the ceiling, though his gaze felt empty, unable to focus on anything.

Sometimes, life really did feel exhausting. Nine out of ten things in life and work didn’t go well, and even the people closest to him pressured him, smothering him with phrases like “it’s for your own good,” “it’s all for you,” and “why do you think I work so hard?” It all weighed him down, making it hard to breathe.

Did anyone really care if he was tired, if he was okay?

There was someone before. Gu Yan.

Shen Qi had started working at the toy company during his internship in the second half of his senior year and had never switched jobs since.

Their company was quite large, one of the top in the industry, and it even had a global reputation. Getting into a company like this felt like winning the lottery to Shen Qi at the time.

But as his mother often complained, he didn’t have much ambition or drive. A few years had passed, and while the two other interns who started with him had become managers, he was still just a small supervisor.

That was his nature—diligent and straightforward, but not competitive or aggressive.

Maybe that’s why their chubby boss thought he was a pushover, always giving him the most thankless tasks.

If he did well, it was expected; if he didn’t, it was negligence.

Shen Qi really disliked this chubby boss, thinking he had no real skills, didn’t do his job well, only bragged and flattered his superiors, and loved hearing compliments from his subordinates. Shen Qi often vented about this boss to Gu Yan.

One time, after getting upset by the chubby boss again, Shen Qi couldn’t hold it in and complained to Gu Yan at home.

At that time, he was sitting on the sofa watching TV, while Gu Yan sat on the floor with his laptop, working with his back against Shen Qi’s legs. After listening to him complain, Gu Yan turned around and naturally kissed his knee, raising an eyebrow and saying:

“Then why don’t you just quit the company and tell that chubby boss to shove it up his ass?”

Shen Qi rolled his eyes at Gu Yan: “If I did that, I’d end up starving.”

Gu Yan put the laptop on the floor, stood up, kissed him, and then deliberately bit his lips lightly:

“No worries, you’ve got me. Your husband won’t let you starve, will he?”

The two were usually quite affectionate, but they were casual about titles, mostly just calling each other by name. Terms like “husband,” “baby,” or “sweetheart” were reserved for moments in bed.

So when Gu Yan suddenly said this, Shen Qi’s ears had instantly turned red: “What nonsense are you talking about?”

Gu Yan’s tone was playful, but Shen Qi knew he was serious. Gu Yan had told him more than once that if he ever felt tired, he should take a break. With him around, he didn’t need to put so much pressure on himself.

That silly guy often worked late into the night in the study but was always worried about him getting stressed and exhausted.

But he… had driven Gu Yan away with his own hands. He had lost the only person who cared if he was tired.

So… it was only fitting that he ended up like this now.

…..

On Christmas Eve, Tang Yan still managed to organize a small gathering, inviting a few friends to his big villa for drinks and barbecue.

But neither Gu Yan nor Shen Qi attended. Shen Qi stayed home to sleep and look for a job, while Gu Yan and Zhang Xin participated in a racing event, where they had a great time speeding around the track.

It had been years since Gu Yan had raced, and he thought he’d be rusty. But as soon as he touched the steering wheel, that familiar thrill and excitement flooded back, and his adrenaline soared.

After a few laps, it felt like every pore in his body had been opened. It was so exhilarating, so thrilling.

Gu Yan hadn’t been in the world of racing for many years, but his legend still circulated there. A group of competitors gathered together, drinking and boasting, and naturally brought up Gu Yan’s brilliant emergency brake and sharp turn from back in the day.

“Our Gu Ge is amazing. If it were someone else, their bones would have turned to dust; they wouldn’t have survived to drink with us. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah, yeah, Gu Ge is incredible! I wasn’t on the field at the time, but just watching the live broadcast on screen gave me a cold sweat!”

“Hey, Gu Ge, why did you suddenly stop racing? Do you know how many fans were heartbroken because of that…” someone suddenly asked.

“I know! That cheerleader captain, what was her name… I think it was Qian Qi, she cried for days when she found out Gu Ge wasn’t racing anymore and quit the cheerleading team too.”

“Oh my god, I was so sad back then. That Qian Qi had such a great figure. Every time I ran laps hard, it was just to get her to notice me, you know? And then…”

As the conversation went on, it became less serious, inevitably drifting to topics like smoking, drinking, cars, and women.

But for Gu Yan, he was more interested in men than women.

Gu Yan chuckled self-deprecatingly. “It’s nothing, just a moment of madness back then.”

Someone patted Gu Yan on the shoulder and said with a smile, “Hey, Gu Ge, there’s a competition next month. You have to come, okay?”

“I’ve put your name out there. If you don’t show up, I might as well quit!”

Gu Yan enjoyed the long-lost feeling of passionate excitement. He clinked his beer bottle with the others and replied, “I definitely will.”

During the New Year holiday, Gu Yan stayed at home and slept for three days, catching up on the sleep he had missed while working on projects. On the first day after the holiday, he woke up very early and arrived downstairs at the company half an hour earlier than usual.

While waiting for the elevator, many colleagues came by and greeted him. Some were his own subordinates, who, after greeting him, disappeared into the crowd like mice avoiding a cat.

Gu Yan began to reflect if he had been too strict with his subordinates.

When the elevator arrived, a group of people squeezed in. As the elevator doors were about to close, someone hurriedly caught up, apologizing while stretching their arm to block the doors, and quickly squeezed in.

Gu Yan was squeezed in the back row, but his height and long legs meant he could still see clearly, so he immediately recognized the last person to enter—Shen Qi.

How could it be him? What was he doing here?

As Gu Yan wondered, Shen Qi also saw him. The two exchanged a glance through the crowd, neither of them intending to speak or even acknowledge each other, and turned their eyes away.

Gu Yan stood in the very back of the elevator while Shen Qi was near the doors. Despite the close distance, they felt like complete strangers.

The elevator slowly ascended. At this time, there were fewer people on each floor. Shen Qi, however, did not get off.

“Sixteenth floor—arrived.”

Gu Yan’s office was on the sixteenth floor. As he prepared to exit, he saw Shen Qi get off first. The two exchanged another glance outside the elevator, then Gu Yan went to his office while Shen Qi stood still.

The design department held a monthly meeting to review and plan, and as the deputy director, Gu Yan sometimes attended. However, since it was the end of the year and things were more hectic, he decided to attend the entire meeting to avoid any issues.

By the time he left the meeting room, it was nearly 11 o’clock. As he walked down the hallway, he glanced instinctively toward the adjacent marketing department and saw that familiar figure—Shen Qi was still there, even sitting in the marketing department’s office.

“Is the marketing department hiring new people?” he couldn’t help but ask his secretary.

“Yes, Mr. Gu. I heard from Xiao Li that they’ve hired three people this time and plan to expand next year.”

Xiao Li was the secretary of the marketing department director, and since the two departments were opposite each other with the break room in between, they sometimes chatted in the break room.

Gu Yan nodded without saying more.

But Secretary Zhang was puzzled. Normally, their boss was not one to concern himself with other departments unless it directly affected their own design department. Today, however, he was showing unexpected interest in the marketing department’s hiring.

“By the way, Mr. Gu, about that designer…” The resume of the new designer had been on Gu Yan’s desk for a while. The HR department had asked several times, but Secretary Zhang had hesitated. Now, it was brought up casually.

Gu Yan had just opened his office door. Hearing this, he paused, turned to the secretary, and said:

“That… isn’t suitable. Please have HR find another candidate.”

Author’s note:

Xiao Tan: Why should everyone else get a chance while I fail???