Very interested

Before Pei Yang could make up his mind, an email alert chimed from everyone's inbox at once. The message contained just one sentence: the Exhibition Planning Department was to report to the large conference room within three minutes for an emergency meeting.

It was an internal email from their supervisor, and no one dared disregard it. After a quick scan, they hurried off to the conference room with their notebooks.

Gu Xin, the intern beside Pei Yang, was in no hurry. She grumbled, "Why are we having another meeting?" as she slowly gathered what she needed.

Gu Xin stood up with her notebook in her arms. Seeing Pei Yang still holding his phone and staring at it, she planted her hands on her hips. "Ha! Having someone backing you really does make a difference! You don't have to worry at all!"

Pei Yang still hadn't decided which message to send and planned to think it over during the meeting. He put down his phone and looked up. "What did you say?"

Gu Xin pressed her lips together. "Nothing."

They reached the conference room just in time. It was so packed that there was hardly anywhere to step. Gu Xin pulled Pei Yang over to the seats in the farthest corner and whispered, "When Old Man Liao calls a meeting like this, nine times out of ten he's looking for some poor sucker to take on work he doesn't want to do. If we hide here in the corner and keep quiet, we're guaranteed to survive this ordeal."

"..." If Pei Yang remembered correctly, the "Old Man Liao" Gu Xin referred to was Liao Yang, the head of the Exhibition Planning Department. Before Pei Yang came to Headquarters, Gu Xin had only been an intern for two days. How did she know so much?

Pei Yang was just about to ask when Gu Xin held an index finger to her lips and shushed him, mouthing, "He's here. Don't make a sound!"

Pei Yang could only close his mouth.

"Ahem, ahem..." Under the gaze of a hundred-odd people, Liao Yang took the seat at the head of the table. He tapped the microphone, and his deep voice came through the speaker behind Pei Yang. "Good morning. I've gathered you all here because I have some good news to announce."

Their corner seats might save them from disaster, but they couldn't save their ears. Pei Yang and Gu Xin both stuck their fingers in their ears.

"He said it's good news," Pei Yang whispered. "Maybe you guessed wrong."

"Impossible-" Gu Xin's eyes widened. "He's building us up before knocking us down. It's Old Man Liao's usual tactic."

Liao Yang coughed several more times before continuing, "Following, discussions among the higher-ups, our Exhibition Planning Department will be launching a project of epic proportions next month. And, we'll be liaising directly with the board, in a sort of... cross-level arrangement."

Pei Yang's eyes shot up. He had barely straightened in his seat before Gu Xin pushed him back down. "What are you doing? Don't sit up! If you make eye contact with him, he'll say you're attentive in meetings and have a lively look in your eyes, then dump this whole mess on you!"

Gu Xin gestured for Pei Yang to look around. "Look at them. Their heads are even lower than ours. Who'd dare stick their neck out now?"

"Of course, this liaison work is simple, very simple. There's nothing difficult about it! To put it plainly, it's just running errands, and not very far, either. Upstairs, downstairs, high-speed elevators-it only takes seconds." Looking out over a sea of dark-haired heads, Liao Yang remained completely unfazed and undiscouraged. He continued enthusiastically, "Still, it will take some effort. But! To help the Exhibition Planning Department reach greater heights at FK! For our collective! For our team! For our little work family! Is there anyone willing to volunteer and step forward?"

"..." Not a sound.

Pei Yang didn't quite understand. He whispered to Gu Xin, "Why isn't anyone volunteering?"

"Are you stupid?" Gu Xin looked at Pei Yang in astonishment, as though he weren't human. "Is this a good thing? Who'd be dumb enough to volunteer?"

"How is it not a good thing?" Pei Yang said. "Reporting across levels means even an ordinary employee can meet senior management, or even... the board, the very top."

"I honestly don't know what to say to you... You look pretty sharp, so how... Tsk. Use your brain. If it were really that great, would Old Man Liao go to all this trouble and call an emergency meeting? Couldn't he just take it on himself?"

Pei Yang still didn't quite understand.

Gu Xin licked her lips and explained, "First, a big project like this needs a proposal, right? Where does that proposal come from? From all the work us little workhorses put together, obviously. Whoever handles the liaison just gets an extra errand-running job. Their regular workload won't be reduced one bit. And... those big shots on the board are moody, bad-tempered, and incredibly condescending! Reporting to them... If the proposal happens to be exactly what they want, fine. Otherwise... you'll get proposal 1.0, proposal 2.0, proposal 3.0..."

"And this errand-running 'liaison' not only has to spend more time than everyone else, but gets no thanks for it, either. For that measly salary, you're taking pressure from both sides! Think about it. If the chairman raises issues and tells the department to make changes, the 'liaison' has to stand there and listen to him chew them out, then come back and tell everyone in the department what the chairman wasn't happy with so they can revise it..."

"Stop." Just imagining it made Pei Yang feel breathless. "Thank you for stopping me."

Seeing that no one was responding, Old Man Liao lost his temper. "Is this our team's solidarity? You arrive right on the dot! You crowd around the time clock ten minutes before the workday ends! With employees like you, FK will definitely go under in a few hundred years! Do you deserve the salaries you're paid?"

"I'll give you one more chance. Is there anyone with a sense of responsibility who's willing to step forward?"

"..." Still not a sound.

Pei Yang ran through the words Gu Xin had just used to describe the board and frowned. "Are the people on the board really like that? Moody, bad-tempered, condescending? You can't paint everyone with the same brush. Surely some of them are gentle and patient..."

"What fairy tale are you talking about?" Gu Xin's eyelid twitched. "Absolutely impossible. Everyone on the board is a devil! The kind who'll eat you alive!"

...But Feng Wanting wasn't.

Pei Yang asked suspiciously, "How exactly do you know so much?"

"I..." Gu Xin gave an awkward laugh. "You don't need to know that!"

Suddenly, a loud smack made both of them flinch as they whispered to each other. Liao Yang rose to his feet in fury. "A bunch of cowards! Do you realize how disappointed Director Feng would be in you?"

Pei Yang immediately caught the key words. "Director Feng?"

More than a hundred heads turned toward Pei Yang in unison. Gu Xin's eyes widened, and she hurriedly picked up her chair and shifted to the side, terrified that Pei Yang would drag her into this.

Pei Yang's voice wasn't loud, but it wasn't quiet, either. It was enough for Liao Yang to hear.

Liao Yang's eyes lit up. "That's right, Director Feng. This project was launched by Director Feng himself, the best-looking man in our group! What's this, young man? Are you interested in Director Feng?"

"Very interested." Pei Yang's mouth moved faster than his brain. Only after saying it did he realize something was wrong, and he explained, "No, I mean I'm very interested in this project. I'm willing to... serve as the liaison for it."