The next day.
"Morning, everyone."
"Morning, Little Dong."
"Good morning, Comrade Firefighter. Hehe."
"Come on, I told you not to call me that. What Firefighter?"
Amid laughter and chatter, work hours began. Zhou Changchun had not come in today. In fact, they had not seen him since yesterday noon. He had probably taken another sick leave. After all, Zhou Changchun had Cerebral Thrombosis and other chronic illnesses, and his health had never been very good. With no one in the office keeping watch, the others barely worked either. Guo Panwei kept his head down, analyzing stock trends; Guo Shunjie only browsed forums online. Most of the work fell to Tan Limei, Dong Xuebin, and Zhuangzi.
"Director Zhou must have taken dozens of sick days this year, right?" Tan Limei complained quietly.
Dong Xuebin was taken aback. "That many?"
"I'm being conservative," Tan Limei said. "It seemed to be like this last year too. Sigh, whenever Director Zhou isn't around, my workload shoots up. Luckily, you and Zhuangzi joined this year, or I wouldn't be able to keep up." She glanced at Guo Shunjie and the others sitting nearby, then snorted under her breath. "They're just taking up space and doing nothing."
Dong Xuebin smiled. "Director Zhou will probably be back tomorrow. Here, I'll help you print those."
It was not until the lunch break that everyone learned the news: Zhou Changchun had been hospitalized with Cerebral Thrombosis.
No one was surprised in the slightest. Or rather, they had already grown used to it.
Guo Panwei hurriedly asked which hospital and ward Director Zhou was in, then said, "I'm going to visit Director Zhou."
"I'll go too." Of course Dong Xuebin could not fall behind. Although his relationship with Zhou Changchun had already grown close, visiting him would not necessarily improve