[The Clerks]

This was the third update. Please send some Recommendation Tickets—if there were enough, there would be another update tonight.

Tuesday.

Chengxi Branch Bureau, General Office.

Today was Dong Xuebin's first official day at work. His desk had been assigned to a corner by the window. Sunlight poured through the glass and beat down harshly on the glass desktop protector, making it hot and glaring. Only after he pulled the curtains did it block some of the light. Directly opposite Dong Xuebin was Zhuangzi's desk. They sat face-to-face, desk-to-desk, with only two seventeen-inch computer monitors and a desk calendar opened to January between them.

Besides Dong Xuebin and Zhuangzi, everyone else in the office seemed quite busy.

The lively girl standing by the copier, Tan Limei, hurriedly sorted through some documents without turning around. "Guo Shunjie, I can't free up my hands here. Help me copy something—the bureau needs it urgently."

Guo Shunjie, who was about twenty-eight or twenty-nine, clattered away at his keyboard. "I'm busy too. Ask someone else."

Lao Yan, the oldest person in the office, sat as steady as a mountain reading the morning paper, showing no intention of helping whatsoever.

Guo Panwei, with his sharp, monkey-like features, kept his head lowered as he wrote something. "Wait until I finish this. I'll be right over."

The last one, Chang Juan, was applying eyebrow pencil with a small mirror in hand.

Dong Xuebin blinked, closed out his keyboard, and immediately volunteered. "Sister Tan, I'll do it."

"Sure, sure." Tan Limei stuffed the finished documents into Dong Xuebin's arms and directed him, "You know how to use the copier, right? Set them down neatly and line them up first, then press that big button. Right, single-sided. Make four copies in total, then staple them and leave them there. Oh, right, what did you just call me? Sister Tan? Hehe, don't call me that. I started school early and only graduated a year ago. I'm probably not even as old as you or Sun Zhuang."

"I'll help too." Zhuangzi, who had nothing to do, quickly came over as well.

Tan Limei said casually, "Fine, fine. One of you copies, the other staples. The faster, the better—the leaders are waiting to use them."

The copier whirred and creaked. Once it had finished printing, Zhuangzi clumsily stapled the documents together.

Just as Dong Xuebin and Zhuangzi finished preparing the materials, Guo Panwei, who had kept his head down the whole time, and Chang Juan, who had been drawing her brows, sprang to their feet. Almost in unison, they said, "I'll deliver them." After that, they exchanged a glance. Chang Juan gave him a coquettish smile and said, "I'll take the ones for the Political Department and Confidential Office. You take the ones to the bureau chief." Once they had divided up the documents, Guo Shunjie solemnly straightened his shirt collar while Chang Juan carefully touched up her foundation. Only then did the two leave the office.

Dong Xuebin and Zhuangzi found it rather puzzling.

Tan Limei, however, was clearly used to it. She curled her lip at their backs. "They're never that enthusiastic when there's work to do, but the moment they hear they can see a leader, they fight over it. Hmph."

Dong Xuebin had just arrived and truly did not understand all the twists and turns involved, so he merely smiled and said nothing.

Suddenly, Guo Shunjie beckoned. "Little Dong, Xiao Sun, come here a moment."

Dong Xuebin and Zhuangzi went over. "What is it?"

"Copy each of these forms once. You know Excel, right? Make the forms according to my format. Just drag the contents in from the Word documents beside them—copy and paste is fine. Just make sure you don't paste anything wrong. These forms are needed before noon, so print them out afterward." Judging by his tone, Guo Shunjie sounded exactly like a leader, issuing orders without the slightest hesitation. Once Dong Xuebin and Zhuangzi got to work on the forms, he became free. He held a cup of tea while browsing several freshwater ornamental fish forums online.

Noon.

Dong Xuebin and Zhuangzi finished their assignment. Guo Shunjie took the forms, gave them a look, and nodded slightly. "Mm, not bad."

Tan Limei smiled and teased, "Leader Guo, it's lunch break now. May we go eat?"

Guo Shunjie was not angry. He laughed. "What kind of leader am I? Don't make fun of me."

After glancing at the forms, Guo Panwei immediately packed up his briefcase and tucked it under his arm. "I'm going to the hospital to visit Director Zhou." Then he left.

Chang Juan rose, swaying her slender waist. "Someone's treating me today, so I'm not eating at the cafeteria."

"Little Dong, Xiao Sun." Lao Yan, who had not said a word all morning, smiled kindly at them. "You haven't bought meal coupons yet, have you? Come on, use mine first."

Dong Xuebin hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, thank you, sir. We can just grab something outside."

Zhuangzi said, "Right, right. Thank you."

Tan Limei said warmly, "What good food is there outside? Our cafeteria may be small, but the food is pretty good. Come on, I'll take you there. Comrade Lao Yan, I'm stealing them away. Let them use my meal coupons."

Lao Yan smiled benevolently. "Fine. You young people should get to know each other better. These two lads seem quite honest to me."

Tan Limei's looks were quite ordinary, but she was very talkative and had a big mouth. She acted familiar with everyone and dared to say anything. While they ate at the large cafeteria on the north side of the compound, Tan Limei chattered away, telling them all sorts of gossip.

Thanks to her, Dong Xuebin gained a deeper understanding of the office.

In other government agencies, the General Affairs Department and the office were essentially the same thing. But conditions here were rather special, and the documents they handled were of different ranks, so an office had been set up separately under the General Affairs Department to handle miscellaneous tasks such as drafting meeting documents, preparing leaders' speeches, forwarding archives, and so on. The office director concurrently served as the deputy director of the First General Affairs Department. It was said that he delegated authority freely and rarely interfered here, so the office's actual Top Leader was Deputy Director Zhou Changchun, a middle-aged man around fifty whose health was poor and who often took sick leave.

Below the deputy director were clerks like them.

Lao Yan had the most seniority, but he seemed to have offended a leader at the Municipal State Security Bureau years ago and had been kept down ever since. Now in his fifties, he was still only a lowly clerk. Nearing retirement, he had probably accepted it. Every day, he leisurely held a newspaper and read it, doing no work and involving himself in nothing.

Guo Panwei was highly ambitious. He spent all day hovering around the leaders, and he was extremely skilled at flattery. After sucking up to the director, he would suck up to deputy bureau chiefs, and he could speak with quite a few leaders.

Guo Shunjie had connections within the bureau. Rumor had it that Bureau Political Commissar Zhou Guoan was close friends with his father. Thus, aside from Deputy Director Zhou Changchun, Guo Shunjie did not think much of any of the other clerks in the office. He acted as though he was the biggest among them.

Chang Juan was a woman around thirty. Though she looked fairly ordinary, she loved dressing up and spent every day looking gaudy as she strutted around in front of the bureau leaders, as though she hoped that one day she could become someone's mistress.

Only Tan Limei did proper work. Nearly all the office's documents, large and small, were handled by her.

Well, that was basically the situation.

The office was... very complicated.

This was the third update. Please send some Recommendation Tickets—if there were enough, there would be another update tonight.

...!!!