Meeting

5th Floor, Penguin Video Original Drama Center, Screenwriting Department.

The HR lady handed Li Xun and the other two newcomers over to Julie, the chief editor of the Screenwriting Department, and then left.

Next came the self-introductions of the three newcomers.

First was Han Qiaoling, then Zhou Hongsu, and finally Li Xun.

"Hello everyone, leaders and colleagues. My name is Li Xun, and I'm from Xiang Province. Thank you very much to this company for giving me this opportunity to join our big family. I hope and believe that with my efforts and everyone's help, I will be able to quickly adapt to the work environment and create more value for the company. Thank you all."

After the self-introductions, Chief Editor Julie assigned workstations to Li Xun and the other two. She also assigned an experienced screenwriter to mentor each newcomer. Li Xun was assigned to a screenwriter named Wang Hai, who would mentor him.

After tidying up his workstation a bit, Li Xun, along with the other two, collected their office supplies using the new employee office supply requisition form. Then, Li Xun sat down at his workstation, and the onboarding process was essentially complete.

Wang Hai, the screenwriter at the adjacent workstation, turned to Li Xun and said:

"The company usually won't assign you specific tasks during the first week. This week, your main job is to observe, listen, and take notes. Watch how we discuss the style of a drama, character settings, division of labor, and so on. The cafeteria is on the 12th floor. You can bring your own utensils or not; the food is decent, but it gets crowded, so you'll have to queue for food. Oh, and absolutely no drinking alcohol. If you don't like the food, you can go downstairs and buy your own. There's a snack street just a short walk to the left outside the building."

"Thank you, senior. I'll keep that in mind."

"What senior and junior? Just call me Old Wang or Little Wang."

"How can I do that? I'll call you Brother Wang!"

"Whatever you like!"

"By the way, Brother Wang, how much do you know about our President Dai?"

Wang Hai chuckled and teased, "You're quite savvy, aren't you? What's up, did you hear President Dai is a great beauty and you're getting ideas?"

"No, what ideas could I possibly have? I just want to understand. After all, she's my direct superior, and I've been hearing people talk about how amazing she is all the way here. I'm just curious."

Wang Hai laughed, "What's wrong with getting ideas? What's there to be afraid to admit? With a beauty like that, what man wouldn't have ideas? What, are you afraid of being called a toad? Don't worry, out of the thousands of people in the company, every single one, regardless of their position or annual salary, who has thoughts about our President Dai, is a toad in my eyes. So don't be embarrassed. You won't be the only toad, so no one needs to laugh at anyone else. Honestly, in my eyes, no one in the company is good enough for her. If President Dai were willing to let me kiss her, I'd be willing to live one year less."

"Kiss her and live one year less? That's too exaggerated!" Li Xun exclaimed.

An image flashed through his mind, an indescribable inspiration from last night, fleetingly gone.

Wang Hai scoffed again, "Don't act so tough now. When she arrives later, and you see her in person, you'll know if it's worth it."

Li Xun mumbled, "If a kiss costs one year of life, then a hundred kisses would mean dying of old age right then and there?"

Wang Hai glanced at Li Xun and sneered, "You want to kiss her a hundred times? Don't get ahead of yourself! What's with your stubbornness? I was just using a metaphor. Who's actually going to deduct a year from your lifespan?"

Li Xun looked up at the ceiling and said solemnly, "You can't eat just anything, and you definitely can't say just anything. What if it actually comes true? Brother Wang, I'm telling you, I'm truly in awe of these supernatural things now. I wouldn't dare make such pronouncements. There's a divine presence three feet above your head!"

"You believe in that stuff?" Wang Hai asked with a laugh.

"I didn't used to, but now I'm starting to. By the way, what's this President Dai's full name?" Li Xun asked curiously.

"Dai Ying. You don't even know that?" Wang Hai asked in surprise.

"I really don't... Wait, Dai Ying? That name sounds familiar!"

Just then, a young woman walked out of a small office next to the Vice President's office and headed straight towards Li Xun and Wang Hai.

Wang Hai whispered, "She's Qiu Ting, President Dai's assistant."

Li Xun nodded.

Qiu Ting stopped in front of their workstations and looked at Li Xun.

"New here?"

Li Xun nodded.

"Li Xun?" Qiu Ting asked again.

Li Xun nodded once more.

"Go to the Vice President's office. The Vice President wants to see you," Qiu Ting said.

"Now?" Li Xun asked.

"Now!" Qiu Ting replied.

Li Xun followed Qiu Ting into Dai Ying's office.

"Qiu Ting, you can go out now!" the woman inside, who was looking at documents, said without looking up.

"Yes, President Dai!" Qiu Ting replied and exited the office.

The woman behind the desk was signing some documents. Li Xun entered, but she didn't look up. As Li Xun stared at the woman engrossed in her work, a thunderclap seemed to go off in his head.

All the pieces clicked into place.

So the "Senior Sister Dai" was her! The woman who boasted last night that she was a Senior Vice President of a Fortune Global 500 company!

No, it wasn't boasting; it was all true!

So the "President Dai" was the woman who asked him for a kiss and gave him a hundred yuan for it!

He should have realized it sooner!

Li Xun's lips felt a little dry.

All he wanted to do now was post online: "I kissed my beautiful boss the day before starting my job and even took 100 yuan in 'kissing fees.' What should I do? Waiting for urgent help!"

Li Xun just stared blankly at the woman signing documents in front of him.

The woman seemed to have an endless stack of documents to sign. Without looking up, she spoke while reviewing and signing: "I've read your entrance exam paper, Predestination. It left a deep impression. It was truly brilliant, and your screenwriting skills are outstanding. I hope your future works will be even better."

"Thank you for your praise, President Dai. I will continue to work hard!" Li Xun replied, his mind in a daze.

Predestination was his stepping stone into Penguin Video.

The topic for this recruitment exam by the Penguin Video Screenwriting Department was time travel, requiring a short story that was as unexpected and mind-bending as possible.

Li Xun's submission was a retelling of All You Zombies, a classic work by Robert A. Heinlein, hailed as the father of American science fiction, an unparalleled American author, and one of the "Big Four" of the American Golden Age of Science Fiction.

Because the original novel's title was somewhat insulting and could easily lead to unnecessary associations for the graders, he had renamed it. He chose the title of the film adaptation of the work—Predestination.

The novel's general plot is as follows: In 1945, a mysterious baby girl suddenly appeared in an orphanage. No one knew her identity or who her parents were. She grew up alone and lonely in the orphanage.

Then, one day in 1963, she fell in love with a drifter and became pregnant with his child. However, just before the child's birth, the drifter suddenly disappeared. During her labor at the hospital, it was discovered that she was intersex.

To save her life, doctors performed surgery, transforming her into him. The child she had just given birth to was also snatched away by a mysterious figure. After these successive blows, she, now a man, became a drifter himself, wandering the streets.

Then, one day in 1978, in a small bar, he recounted his entire ordeal to the bartender. The bartender, feeling great sympathy, promised to help him find the drifter who had impregnated him, on the condition that he join their temporal special forces.

He traveled back to 1963 using a time machine, where he met a young woman who had grown up in an orphanage. They fell in love, and eventually, the woman became pregnant...

In short, it's a story about someone who falls in love with themselves, impregnates themselves, gives birth to themselves, steals themselves, tracks themselves, stops themselves, blows themselves up, and kills themselves.

Li Xun suddenly understood.

So, the genius she mentioned last night, the one with wild imagination, the newcomer with divine plot twists and mind-blowing concepts, the genius she insisted on smiling at every day—was me?!

Could it be that I am the genius?!

He suddenly remembered what Dai Ying had said last night: "Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I explained. That story, in reality, only involved one person from beginning to end. It's hard to explain in a few words, but I can tell you, it was astonishing! Truly... a divine plot twist, a mind-blowing concept. This person... will definitely make a name for themselves!"

"Only one person from beginning to end, isn't that talking about my Predestination?"

What a blockhead! How could I not have realized it?!

"I plan to include Predestination in the Penguin Video copyright library. Since it was a work before your employment, the company will pay you a copyright transfer fee of 100,000 yuan. Although this script is very interesting, you should also know that it's not really suitable for film adaptation, so the copyright fee might be set a bit low. What are your thoughts?" Dai Ying continued, still looking down at her documents.

Li Xun replied, "I have no objections. Let's proceed as the leader suggests!"

The woman asked again, "Oh, right. I heard you graduated from high school? What did you do before teaching yourself screenwriting?"

Li Xun answered, "Haotuan Delivery!"

"Haotuan Delivery?"

A flash of lightning seemed to cross the woman's mind, and she suddenly found the voice in her ears inexplicably familiar.

This made her feel a vague sense of unease.

She suddenly looked up, only to realize that standing opposite her was an extremely familiar face, an extremely memorable face, the face of the man who had stolen her first kiss and then charged her ten thousand yuan. And at this moment, the owner of this face was smiling at her.

She was completely stunned.

Her usually cool cheeks instantly flushed red.

The events of last night flashed through her mind one after another.

Her voice became involuntarily a little stuttered.

"How... could it be you?!"