No More Enduring!

Gao Jing had a dream.

He dreamed that he had crossed a boundless sea of stars and landed on an emerald-green planet.

Towering mountains stood majestic and immense, countless giant trees pierced straight into the clouds, and the endless forest was home to colossal beasts larger and fiercer than dinosaurs. Within it, Gao Jing felt as tiny as an ant.

Pitifully small!

As he tried, full of terror, to find a way out through the dense jungle, a dreadful buzzing filled his ears.

Bzzzz~

Gao Jing jolted awake.

The cracked ceiling above him, the 1.2-meter-wide single bed beneath him, the shabby little room of barely a dozen square meters—the all-too-familiar sight before his eyes made him heave a huge sigh of relief.

So it was a nightmare.

But the buzzing was still ringing.

Oh no!

Gao Jing rolled over and grabbed the phone from the bedside table. The screen showed 8:47.

He had slept too deeply. Though the alarm he had set had buzzed repeatedly at intervals, it had failed to wake him.

I'm screwed!

Gao Jing pressed a hand to his forehead, speechless and choked up.

He was definitely going to be late today, and this month's full-attendance bonus was bound to go down the drain.

And he had spent another hundred or two repairing his motorcycle yesterday. The losses were truly painful.

It's fine, it's fine.

Gao Jing patted his face, encouraging himself not to feel discouraged.

No matter what, life had to go on.

He hurriedly got up, washed up in the bathroom, wrapped up the battle at top speed, then rushed off to work.

Despite hurrying as fast as he could, it was already 9:35 when Gao Jing arrived at the company.

The receptionist asked curiously, "Gao Jing, why are you late today?"

Gao Jing was usually always punctual for work, and he had never once been late on the attendance record.

"I overslept."

Gao Jing gave a brief explanation, clocked in, and walked into the company.

The Golden Radiance Trading Company where Gao Jing worked was medium-sized, with around a hundred employees, and its parent company had considerable strength.

The pay and benefits were decent, which was why he had stuck it out here for four years.

The moment he reached the office area, Gao Jing noticed his colleagues casting looks of sympathy and pity his way.

Some even looked downright delighted by his misfortune.

The next moment, he saw his immediate superior, Liang Xiang, the department manager of Sales, sitting in his seat.

"Gao Jing!"

The instant Liang Xiang saw him, he sprang to his feet and berated him furiously. "What kind of work are you doing? President Wang from Xinhe called me last night to complain, saying your attitude was terrible and that he was very unhappy!"

"And have you collected that outstanding payment yet? You're late again this morning—do you even want to keep this job?"

His right hand still ached faintly from the injury. The moment he arrived at work, he got sprayed in the face with saliva under a barrage of scolding. No matter how good Gao Jing's temper was, anger surged in his heart.

He replied in a low voice, "Manager Liang, I wasn't the one who negotiated Xinhe Machinery's order. I shouldn't have been the one chasing the payment in the first place. What can I do if President Wang refuses to recognize me?"

As he spoke, Gao Jing glanced at a thin, scrawny man seated nearby.

The latter had been looking at Gao Jing with gleeful malice, but when Gao Jing's gaze swept over him, he immediately shrank his head back sheepishly.

This guy was Liang Xiang's cousin, and he was the one who had signed the Xinhe Machinery order.

When the deal went wrong, they had sent Gao Jing to take the blame.

Why the hell should he?

Liang Xiang was momentarily at a loss for words, then immediately roared with an imposing expression, "You're an employee of the company, so you should work earnestly and diligently to complete the tasks assigned by the company! With an attitude like yours, no wonder you've shown no progress after working for years!"

Faced with such a rebuke, Gao Jing could not help clenching his fists.

Ever since entering Golden Radiance, he had always been diligent and conscientious in his work, never once slacking off. His performance had consistently ranked near the top.

Over the past four years, Gao Jing had not only repaid all his student loans, but also cleared the debts incurred when his grandfather was treated for illness. He had even managed to save up some money.

He had relied on sales commissions.

As for why his career had remained stuck in place without any advancement, the reasons were truly too complicated to put into a few words.

In fact, Gao Jing had had a chance to move up half a year ago.

But he had been unwilling to offer "contributions" to the department manager at the time. As a result, Liang Xiang—whose performance and ability were both inferior to his, but who was willing to drive a tank—had risen to the position instead.

Liang Xiang was jealous of talent and capable people, favored relatives and cronies, turned the Sales Department into a foul miasma, and even stole quite a few of Gao Jing's deals.

Hoping to rise under a person like that was simply a fantasy from heaven!

"Enough."

Gao Jing's silence made Liang Xiang even more overbearing. He waved a hand and said, "I don't care what method you use. You must recover Xinhe's outstanding payment before the end of the month, or I'll deduct your performance results for the second half of the year!"

Liang Xiang's cousin beside him revealed a smug grin and once again looked at Gao Jing with contempt.

So what if you're capable? Without connections or backing, you're nothing but trash!

"Fuck your mother."

Gao Jing loosened his clenched fists.

"What did you say?"

Liang Xiang suspected that something was wrong with his ears. Blinking his small eyes, he asked in disbelief.

"I said, fuck! Your! Mother!"

Every word Gao Jing spoke rang sonorous and forceful, like cannonballs smashing heavily into Liang Xiang's face.

They struck Liang Xiang so hard that he was left dizzy and disoriented. "Gao Jing, you..."

"What the hell are you stammering for? I quit!"

Gao Jing took off his work badge and slammed it hard onto the desk.

He would not endure it anymore!

The moment he said, "I quit," the resentment, indignation, and unwillingness buried deep in his heart were swept away in one stroke.

His entire body felt refreshed and incomparably relieved.

The office fell silent as a grave. Liang Xiang stood there dumbfounded for a long while, unable to recover his senses.

No one had expected Gao Jing, who had always borne hardship without complaint, to be so decisive today—to turn his face and flip the table outright!

"A good dog doesn't block the road!"

Gao Jing shoved the stunned Liang Xiang aside, sat down at his desk, and began typing his resignation letter.

If this place won't keep me, another place will. If nowhere will keep me, I'll work for myself!

Liang Xiang nearly fell to the floor. His sallow face, drained by excessive drink and sex, flushed dark purple, looking hideous beyond measure.

He wanted to exchange a few blows with Gao Jing, but after weighing their respective fighting abilities—and considering that even two against one with his cousin might not beat Gao Jing—he could only leave in bitter resentment.

Ignoring the complicated looks from his colleagues, Gao Jing quickly finished his resignation letter and submitted it to Human Resources.

The resignation process went unexpectedly smoothly. Liang Xiang, having lost such a huge amount of face, was probably eager for Gao Jing to get the hell out as soon as possible, so all the procedures were completed in just an hour.

Only the severance compensation was gone.

Gao Jing was not surprised by that, nor did he waste effort arguing with Human Resources, who were in cahoots with Liang Xiang.

After packing up his personal belongings, he carried a cardboard box and left the company where he had worked for four years without the slightest attachment.

It would be a lie to say he had no regrets at all, but Gao Jing did not regret a thing.

Today's outburst had also been an inevitable result of accumulated grievances over time.

Just as he arrived at the elevator lobby, the doors of an elevator happened to open.

A large group of people came out, surrounded from all sides.

Among the crowd, one woman stood out in particular—tall, long-legged, fair-skinned, and beautiful.

Dressed in an exquisite office outfit, with looks easily worthy of a nine out of ten, she held her head high and exposed her smooth, full neck like a proud swan.

Gao Jing was somewhat surprised.

Quite a few men and women surrounded her. Among them, he spotted Golden Radiance's general manager.

As well as a vice president from the parent company above.

The two men were usually arrogant and looked down on everyone, but at this moment, they nodded and bowed like lowly attendants.

Gao Jing silently stepped aside.

He had heard that the parent company above Golden Radiance Trading had been acquired by a major conglomerate.

Judging from the scene, a rich, beautiful young heiress had probably been parachuted in for an inspection.

But that had nothing to do with Gao Jing.

He had already resigned.

As the rich, beautiful young heiress passed by, she casually swept Gao Jing with a glance.

Gao Jing, however, did not notice. His gaze fell on the short, fat woman who was the last to leave the elevator.

"Gao Jing?"

The short, fat woman spotted Gao Jing as well. Frowning, she walked over. "Why aren't you working? What are you standing here for?"

Her tone was stern, and her eyes were filled with deep contempt.

"Manager Qiao."

Gao Jing said with a smiling face, "Manager Liang asked me to ask you whether he left his wallet on the bed at your house."

She was the former Sales Department manager, who had been promoted to the parent company half a year ago.

The position she left behind had gone to Liang Xiang.

No one in the Sales Department was unaware of the relationship between the two.

At thirty, a woman was like a wolf; at forty, like a tiger. Manager Qiao Luoluo was already over fifty, her husband was away year-round, and her child attended boarding school.

There was a reason Liang Xiang's body was so weak.

Qiao Luoluo had never dreamed that Gao Jing would publicly expose her sordid affairs. She answered reflexively, "I didn't see it."

The instant those four words left her mouth, her face turned deathly pale.

Everyone present heard the exchange between them clearly, including the rich, beautiful young heiress.

"Oh, then it's nothing."

Gao Jing slipped into the elevator whose doors had already closed halfway, reached out, and pressed the B1 button for the underground parking garage.

He could not help bursting into loud laughter.

The suffocating grievance from being bullied in turns by Qiao Luoluo and Liang Xiang over the past several years at Golden Radiance vanished completely.

The vast sea let fish leap, the high sky let birds fly. He should have flown away long ago.

A man standing tall beneath heaven and earth only needed to be willing to work hard and endure hardship. Was he really afraid he could not support himself?

Why should he bend himself to seek perfection?