With a glass of wine in his hand, Jian Shiwu was communicating and chatting with the project team's director Wang Dao.
He was in his forties, a father of two, but well maintained. He didn’t know if directors who are engaged in art like to wear hats, even if it is in a hotel. To no exception, he was also wearing a peaked cap, and he silently came from behind.
Jian Shiwu was embarrassed: "Director Wang."
"Jian." Director Wang's stiff face was smiling: "Why didn't you go in?"
Jian Shiwu was honest: "I came out to get some air."
He nodded his head, he was also very understanding: "You've only been out in society for two years, you must not be used to such occasions."
Jian Shiwu nodded shyly.
There were times when he felt he was useless, having lived a lifetime longer than others, but not very mature and stable. In his previous life he had only been 25 when he died. He got some work just after graduating from university, but no matter how hard he worked, the jobs seemed to have something against him. Once he got along with his colleagues around him, he would be fired for various reasons, and although his husband Shen Cheng had a prosperous career, he was forced to become a full-time wife.
Because he hadn’t experienced much in life in the workplace, he was really bad at facing these leaders.
Wang was very relaxed, and comforted him: "Don’t be nervous, my eldest son is the same age as you, when I see you, I think of him, no offense."
Jian Shiwu inwardly sighed with relief and gave a generous smile to Director Wang.
Director Wang was slightly stunned.
Suddenly, he could see why some of his colleagues liked young kids: early twenties, full of energy, smiling as if he could dissipate all the shadows. Jian Shiwu had big beautiful eyes, and when he was smiling, he always gave people a clean and gentle feeling.
Such a child, in this circle, is really like a soft little lamb, verg easy to be torn apart by the wolves and if he does not have someone behind him who can protect him enough, the situation will be very difficult.
Thinking about this, Director Wang said, "Just now, you were sending a message to someone?"
Jian Shiwu nodded.
"Did you say goodbye to your family?" Director Wang said with a smile, "Or someone else? At your age, isn’t it normal to be in a relationship or something."
It was like asking did you just chat with your partner.
Jian Shiwu remembered something and his ears slowly became red: "Why would you think that, I was just saying hello to a friend."
Wang said cheerfully, "Don't mind me, I’m just guessing."
In fact, it's not difficult. Eyes and gazes can't be faked. Just when he came out from behind, the child looked at the phone screen with a sense of happiness, that kind of smile on the corner of his mouth, you coukd feel the sour taste of love from a distance.
Jian Shiwu met his somewhat teasing gaze and was annoyed: "Director!"
Director Wang was pricked by such a somewhat reproachful tone, but he was not angry, and then he laughed. He felt that Jian Shiwu's character was very good, and if he signed him, there might be some good effect.
......
Back to the box
There were many little stars who came to participate in Director Wang's outing today.
Most of them tried their best to get a chance, and finally got the chance to get into this wine game but they didn't expect that luck would hit them. Halfway through the game, Director Wang received a call that he could go upstairs to the cocktail party to play a round.
A whole box of ten starlets were fortunate enough to be able to participate thanks to Director Wang, and once he took lead to go out, there were whispers from the box:
"I heard there are quite a few big business names at the reception upstairs."
"We're in luck this time!”
"It would be ...... if we could hook up with one of these."
"Hahahaha, I'm laughing out loud in my dreams.”
Many people had their excitement and ambition on their faces.
Jian Shiwu and Lui Heng also didn’t expect to have an extra inning tonight, but there’s nothing for the two of them to get excited about.
Lui Heng bristled and whispered, "Too naïve, what level of baquet is that, what kind of scene have those big names seen, what kind of beauties have they not seen, with these looks and qualifications, they still expect to go to the pinch the tip, it’s almost the same as being played."
Jian also laughed and smiled.
They’re both considered from a bit of wealthy families, so they know better, and rich people really aren’t stupid.
After going up the stairs, to the venue, Jian Shiwu found that the people holding this ball were really big spenders, packing a whole floor with lights, the intoxicating smell of money everywhere, people coming and going, well-dressed, and behind their smiles were just transactions.
As he sized up the others, a number of people in the shadows were also sizing him up.
Lui Heng looked at Jian Shiwu in mild surprise: "Did you just shiver ?”
Jian Shiwu nodded gently.
"I don’t know why either, I feel a bit cold." Jian Shiwu looked around suspiciously. After entering inexplicably, he felt a sharp target on his back, like an unsuspecting little animal accidentally broke into the devil's cave.
Lui Heng patted him mercifully on the shoulder.
Director Wang stood a short distance away and beckoned to Jian Shiwu: "Shiwu."
Jian Shiwu walked over.
"Let’s go." Director Wang said cheerfully, "I want you to meet some people."
This was an honor, probably because when they were in the corridor, he really saved a few points of goodwill and care, and thus Director Wang gave more support to him. It was also good that Jian Shiwu was not the kind of person who didn't know any better, and followed behind director Wang to meet a number of producers in the circle.
This side of the room was lively, but not far away from the box, someone's face was not so good.
Shen Cheng was sitting on the sofa, his hand pressing a jade bowl, and when he let go, the bowl was picked up and someone cheered, "Six points!"
A group of people cheered.
Those who bet right on Shen Cheng were happy, and those who bet wrong were wailing all over the place.
None of them expected this Ji family son, who had just returned to China, to have such an accurate hand, and some of those who hadn't taken it to heart at first were now too defeated to cry.
Qiao An smiled as he got out of it and sat down next to Shen Cheng and lowered his voice: "Almost got it."
Shen Cheng lifted his eyes to look at him for a second.
Even if it's out of anger, it's almost .” Qiao An quietly pointed to a few points "If you win again, I think they’re going to jump off the wall."
Shen Cheng faintly withdrew his gaze and left the group of people behind to go to the bar at the back of the room.
Qiao An could see that he was in a bad mood, but this was also what made him gossipy, obviously Jian Shiwu had sent him a message, so why could this guy still look like a broken hearted person? What was he so angry about, could it be that the message Shiwu sent was that he was in a relationship and asked Shen Cheng to wish him happiness?
But it can't be ah.
If that was the case, then Shen Cheng shouldn't just be angry, but probably already have a knife in his hand!
He was thinking about it when, through a gap in the box, Qiao An saw a familiar figure. His eyebrows raised, and only when he looked again, he found an unfamiliar man standing next to Jian Shiwu and it dawn on him that it wasn't anger, it was some guy who had turned over the vinegar jar.
Qiao An gave a mysterious smile and never missed an opportunity to move closer to Shen Cheng: "What's the matter, jealous?"
Shen Cheng gave him a threatening look, his tone cool: "You're very idle."
"No."
Qiao An's tall body leaned against the bar, smiling as he skimmed over the few women who were sending him flirtatious glances, "I'm just curious, since your baby is here, how come I haven’t seen Lui Heng."
......
As he was talking, a familiar figure came into view again not far away.
Jian Shiwu and Director Wang separated.
This hotel had a buffet table with a cooked food section, and on the table were some dishes that had been fried, one of which was braised pork. The brightly colored dish was on the counter, exuding a silent temptation that Jian Shiwu noticed from the moment he walked in!
Of course, what he didn’t know was that it was his own bright puppy-like eyes made him look more affectianate.
"Excuse me, sir."
Just as Jian Shiwu was running to place his chopsticks on the dish, a voice came from the side.
The waiter brought the plate up and said, slightly apologetically, "This dish, the honored guest in the box has asked for it.”
?
Jian Shiwu's eyes widened, he was still holding the chopsticks in his hand: "But, but it was obviously me first, can't I even have a piece..."
The waiter bowed apologetically and left with the only plate of roast pork.
Jian Shiwu took awhile to accept the fact that the meat that had reached his mouth had escaped, and those big round eyes were finally tinged with aggression and sulking, glaring at the box not far away, even though he couldn't see inside through the veil, he was still going to glower!
......
Inside the box
Qiao An was trembling from holding in his laughter.
Shen Cheng watched expressionlessly as the waiter brought in the dishes, but didn't give them a second glance, his gaze falling on the person outside.
Qiao An poked him, "Be careful."
Shen Cheng ignored him.
"Hey." Qiao An was really curious: "Why are you bullying him, being so possessive and jealous, Shiwu will cry when he finds out, oh."
"Bullying?" Shen Cheng's dark eyes crossed with a smear of unknown emotions, he flicked his thin lips, the corners of his mouth seemed to hook up with a somewhat nasty smile, "Just a little punishment for disobedient children."
He had learnt to send messages to fool him, wasn’t he, and not only that, he was talking to unclear men, which really made him angry when he thought about it.
...
Qiao An looked incredulously at this vindictive and possessive man, sympathizing a little from the bottom of his heart with how Jian Shiwu could be loved by such a dangerous paranoid man, and for a moment felt a little pity for him.
The following day
"The first edition of “Go Workers” was ready to go on air!
Underneath a building, there stood the whole crew of the show, including Jian Shiwu and three other young stars: a girl with long hair Sun Liman, the boy with great bookishness Jin Zhe, and the very lively looking little brother, Su Yuluo.
Since the last meeting with director Wang, and living up to his expectations, Jian got the resource, a variety show directed by Director Wang himself, a large scale workplace reality show. It was very bold to adopt a live mode to openly show the modern society to the daily life of a newcomer at a workplace. The four stars, will today join one of the national top 500 companies, to show the public workplace career.
Over the next three months, each of them will have to get a position on their own merit, with no insiders, participating in interviews on their own, and even if they are assigned to a cleaning position, they would have to continue working. Such a fun-filled live variety show quickly attracted the attention of many people viewers:.
"I saw it on the home page of the live streaming app and clicked in."
"This variety show is a bit interesting."
"Is it really live?"
"Oh my, it's Ji company, I can't even get an interview there."
"The backer of the show is so powerful!"
The four invited guests gathered in the hall, and as they were also meeting for the first time, they were a little reserved.
The girl, Sun Liman, who had a beautiful figure and was wearing perfect make-up, greeted the others first: "Hello, my name is Sun Liman, an artist from Tomorrow Media, a graduate from Barnes University in M country. I am 25 years old."
The others also introduced themselves.
"Jin Rut, Roland Ze University, M country, 24"
"Su Yuluo, Croatia University, Y country, majoring in finance, 25 years old"
After a few short introductions, the audience was amazed by the fact that they thought all the celebrities who came to the show were trifling, but they didn't expect that all three of them were from prestigious foreign universities, all were sea turtles, which is really rare.
Jian Shiwu smiled and said softly, "I attend NTU, studying acting, and I am 23 years old this year."
A domestic school, an ordinary major.
Not only the other three, but even the viewers in the live stream felt weak by association.
"I don't think so, but the education is usually sifted down at the first selection."
Although the viewers of the broadcast spoke more sharply, the other three didn't dare to show the obvious. They all smiled and nodded, polite on the surface, but inwards were looking at each other and weighing the pros and cons.
The variety show revolved around the workplace, and at the end of the show, the artist with the best overall rating performance and the highest position could get an endorsement from Ji, and lots of resources, and everyone wanted to win.
But by default they excluded Jian Shiwu from the competition list, after all, his education alone pulls him apart by a huge margin, and he’s not competitive at all.
"Are you the interns applying for the job today?"
A voice came from not far away.
The four of them looked sideways and saw a woman in proffessional attire not far away looking at them.
Sun Liman smiled and said, "It's us."
The woman nodded, "Then come over here, come to the interview in the order I call your names, the others will wait nearby, or listen in if you want to."
The crowd unanimously chose to listen in.
After all, it was better to understand the interview process first when their names weren't called.
This was also the first time that Jian Shiwu had been in the halls of Ji company. Last year he’d known that Shen Cheng was already helping Uncle Ji with the company, most of Ji's properties were abroad, but there’s also businesses at home, but as far as he knew then, most of the focus was still over there.
If this was Ji's headquarters in China, maybe he would be able to meet Shen Cheng.
They haven't seen each other for four years, he really wanted to contact him but the other didn’t want to contact back.
That man was too cruel!
As he was thinking, someone next to him talked to him. Sun Liman asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Jian Shiwu froze and hurried back to his senses, looking somewhat startled at the face very close to him, but the young girl burst out laughing, "Did I scare you?"
"...No."
"Don't be distracted, Jinzhe is going in." Sun Liman whispered, "Are you going in to observe, I don't know what position it will be.”
Of course Jian Shiwu went in.
He walked in and saw four interviewers sitting at a table, with a chair in the middle, on which Jin Zhe was sitting, the atmosphere was somewhat grim. The four interviewers were dressed strictly, and looked very serious, bringing a feeling of tension, the room was silent, no one dared to speak loudly.
The netizens in the live broadcast room were all nervous.
"The sense of immersion is so strong that I have died socially."
"Nervous!"
"Come on, I have an interview tomorrow."
The interviewer in the very middle spoke first: "Not everyone has a chance of getting a job in this interview we're having."
The four interns looked up abruptly, all a little surprised.
After all, that's not what the director had said before the recording of the show, didn't he say that the worst would be the cleaners?
The interviewer was rather serious: "When the interview is over, those who have not been offered an official position are not allowed to participate in the work, they can only stay in the lobby on the ground floor as a spectator."
......
There was dead silence in the room.
They’re all recording a variety show, if you can only stand around in the hall silly, then what else is there to record, it's like being snowed in. It was obvious that all four felt a mountain of pressure, but three of them were still a bit confident, after all, the person with the most disadvantageous education here was Jian Shiwu.
After the middlemost interviewer finished speaking, he said to the first Jin Zhe, "Introduce yourself, you can start.”
Jin Zhe is a boy full of bookishness, he’s a bit weak in speech, but very organized, and even thoughtfully covered a lot when introducing himself: I’m very keen on Ji, as a company with the spirit of unity, Ji has always been the industry leader in the field of electronic products, information I..."
He was spot on.
But he got stuck in the next questioning. The interviewer said, "You know that a lot of our business is overseas and we need to use English, so could you please tell us in English what your career plans are for the future."
This was sort of an impromptu extra test.
Jin Zhe's face froze, and after a light breath he started anyway, although his English was a bit stumbling, his pronunciation was correct and he eventually finished.
This certainly put pressure on the few onlookers at the back, especially Sun Liman, who whispered to Jian Shiwu, "It's over, my English is not good."
Jian Shiwu looked down, "Didn't you go to university abroad?"
Sun Liman choked up a little.
How on earth was she going to say she was mixed student at school, and had only made friends of Chinese descent, where did she need to use any English!
She said with some hesitation, "So is your English good?"
Jian Shiwu's white face tinged with a suspicious blush under her gaze, and he was vague: "It's also very average."
Sun Liman breathed a sigh of relief, she was a little more confident again after, even if she was bad, Jian Shiwu still went to school in China, and on that basis she wouldn't be the most humiliated.
The audience certainly thought so too.
"I think Jinzhe is amazing, he’s solid."
"Sun Li Man and Jian Shiewu, are they the chicken and the vegetable?"
"Don't say that, I think this little Jian...is so cute looking."
"The workplace is all about strength! Oooh but he really is so cute."
Next up was Sun Liman's interview, and sure enough, her English was also a weakness, and she didn't answer some of the questions, but her education and conversation were a plus, and a few of the interviewers were somewhat satisfied, and when Sun Liman came down, it was Jian Shiwu's turn.
The interviewers took turns to look at Jian Shiwu's profile and found that his CV only said he had been in a small entertainment company after graduation, the interviewers couldn't hide their disdain.
One of them, a woman with short, refined hair, looked at Jian Shiwu with interest: "Actually, I have a question I have always wanted to ask."
Jian Shiwu: "Go ahead."
"The moment you entered the company, we were in the room having a look at you." The woman smiled, "I noticed that whether you were submitting registration forms on your own or looking for a place to take fingerprints, or even communicating with our personnel, you didn't need the help of others, as if you were very familiar with the various processes... I want to know, did you really only have previous experience working for an entertainment company?"
Of course not.
Jian Shiwu had done more jobs than he could count in his previous life, big and small.
He’s very clear about all kinds of workplace chores, rules and procedures, and this is also a hidden advantage for him.
So when the other interns were working towards a proper position, Jian said, "There is really only one company that I am officially employed by."
The other interviewers raised their eyebrows.
"But..." Jian Shiwu thought about the wording, "I have a lot of experience playing second fiddle to companies and doing casual work, just being very good at running errands and stuff, I may not be able to be a master, but assisting is definitely fine."
This comment made the shrewd and competent woman laugh out loud, what a funny kid, what kind of person in the workplace doesn't want to be the main commander, ah, all the other interns wanted to make it big, only this one came up and said he was good at side support and actively wanted to be the errand boy?
The male interviewer beside the woman frowned and whispered, "What floor doesn't run errands?"
The shrewd and capable woman still smiled. She lowered her voice and said, “There is no shortage of it. No matter what floor the boss is, a competent secretary is necessary."
The interviewers in the room, all high up in various departments, agreed with this; the company was never short of capable people, but it was short of the kind of right-hand man who played a very good supporting role, and a frugal, capable little secretary was indeed in demand.
But many are rational people:
"Not everyone can run well on their legs."
"If one simply played the hand, there would be no redeeming qualities."
"Indeed."
Several of the interviewers did agree here, and they all saw no problem.
Jian was too far away to hear what they were talking about, and although he was curious, he didn't dare ask too many questions, so he could only sit honestly, and what he’d shown so far also relieved the other interns that there really didn’t seem to be anything he was good at, and was probably not a threat to them.
Then the shrewd and competent woman was heard to say, "Is your English any good, our runners have to do a lot of translation work every day too oh."
Jian’s round eyes blinked and blinked, honestly: "My English is okay."
That meant average.
The stern interviewer in the middle said, "Since you came to Ji, you should also have an understanding of us, so can you use a foreign language to tell us briefly what you know."
This may seem simple, but it wasn't, instead it was very difficult.
If it was an introduction to a business, there would be a lot of specialist words used, which would undoubtedly be fatal to someone with average English.
Sure enough, Jian Shiwu hesitated for a moment, then he opened his lips and began to speak. When he opened his mouth, not only the interviewer, even the viewers waiting to see the good show in the live room froze, that crisp and biting teenage voice, opened with a very standard accent but sounded very comfortable. It sounded like an international student compared to the first few interns who studied abroad.
Jian Shiwu was taking as if there was an English word cassette.
This time, all the interviewers twisted their heads to look over. They frowned. After a short silence, Jian Shiwu spoke again, surprisingly, he was not then using English, but was changing to French, and if there was a word he didn't know, he would change to a different language.
......
There was a dead silence in the room.
At the end of this section, Jian Shiwu himself was a little shy, and he used Chinese: "Sorry, you said before that it would be good to introduce in a foreign language, so I'll just..."
The middle interviewer's initially cold expression finally changed, he got some interest: "How many foreign languages do you know?"
Jian Shiwu thought for a moment and whispered, "About...six."
In his previous life he’d worked in different companies and learned a lot of skills, and when he had nothing to do at home he’d also taken quite a few certificates, so he could be said to have developed all-round.
Several of the interviewers looked at each other and secretly saw competition.
The bosses on each floor who had just said they didn't need to run errands saw something interesting in each other's eyes.
The shrewd and competent woman coughed lightly, "Alright, your interviews are almost done now you can go out and wait for the results.”
Several of the interns stood up, bowed and left.
The audience in the live room was much more excited than them:
"This spoken language, is it true that he didn't study it in school?"
"That's terrible, right."
"There's also the possibility that he's been surrounded by friends who have studied abroad and the accent is going to have an effect."
"That's also too strong.”
When the interns had all gone out, a few of the interviewers looked at each other and began to discuss the interns' stay, and the female interviewer was the first to point at Jian Shiwu and say, "Give me this one, I'm short of a small translator there."
"Coincidentally, we need one too."
"Hey, that's no fun for you guys, ah."
"Exactly, you have so many capable people in that department, what do you need people's kids for."
Several of the interviewers were talking when the shrewd and competent female interviewer suddenly received a phone call, and she listened to the content on the other end of the line for half a day before hanging up in a trance.
The others: "What's the matter?”
"Tsk..."
The short-haired female interviewer said, "Perhaps it's hard for you to believe that it was Mr. Shen's president's office that just called me."
The others suddenly straightened their backs, this new president was very capable and they’d like to know what new developments had been made in the presidents office.
The female interviewer smiled and said, "Over there, the president's office needs….a life secretary."
?
The others were shocked.
"Ahem." The female interviewer hesitated, "What do you guys think, what does Mr. Shen mean by this?"