At seven thirty in the morning, Li Zhong woke up on time to the sound of his alarm.
Like a wound-up robot, he washed up and got dressed with precision, then headed out within ten minutes.
A few steps downstairs was the familiar bun shop. He bought two meat buns and a shaomai, wolfing them down as he walked.
He arrived at the bus stop with steady steps, checked the time, and found it was exactly seven forty-five, not a second off.
When he looked up, a bus was slowly pulling in. Neither early nor late—it had arrived right on schedule.
He smiled faintly, unable to resist giving himself credit for his time-management skills.
Half an hour later, the bus reached the industrial park stop. The moment he got off, Li Zhong unlocked two shared bikes and sped toward Sanqing Pharmaceutical.
At eight thirty, he walked into the laboratory right on the dot. Looking around and finding it empty, he saw that he was once again the first to arrive and nodded in satisfaction.
Before long, the team members arrived one after another and began their daily work.
Just after nine, a flurry of text message alerts suddenly rang out.
"Holy shit, the savings card ending in xxxx has received a transfer of 36,000 yuan?"
One team member shot to his feet, staring at his phone as he cried out in shock.
The colleague beside him checked his own phone and exclaimed at the same time, "Wow, the company paid out bonuses."
The others immediately grew excited and hurriedly opened their mobile banking apps to check their accounts.
Li Zhong's heart stirred. He opened his banking app, then froze completely.
48,000. Looking at the number before him, he could hardly believe his eyes.
When he checked the note and saw