No Ghosting Allowed

Pei You: “…”

Zhou Cangshan: “…”

Zhou Qingbo knew that his excuse was extremely far-fetched, but in the heat of the moment, he couldn’t think of anything better.

However, Zhou Cangshan was not a fool. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously and asked, “But Mr. Pei is a graduate of Peking University Guanghua School of Management. Where would you know each other from?”

Zhou Qingbo: “…”

Darn, this is not going well. Zhou Qingbo thought to himself, this guy is even a top student.

But the situation had reached that point, and Zhou Qingbo could only try to come up with a solution. He glanced at Pei You, but unfortunately, Pei You had always been an honest person and received his plea for help but couldn’t do anything to help.

“We… we both…” Zhou Qingbo’s mind was storming for a while when suddenly he had a clever idea and said, “We were classmates in a summer camp during junior high school, in a knitting class.”

Zhou Cangshan: “…”

What’s this? Zhou Cangshan wondered. Pei You looks like a diligent student; would he even attend a summer camp like that?

At that moment, Pei You also realized the situation and knew that Zhou Qingbo probably hadn’t come out to his family, so he awkwardly nodded and cooperated, “Yes, that’s right.”

Zhou Cangshan looked at the two of them, feeling puzzled. He thought they were quite nostalgic, attending a junior high school extracurricular class reunion.

Nevertheless, regardless of the situation, the fact that Pei You and Zhou Qingbo had some connection was a good thing. So Zhou Cangshan didn’t say much, omitting the part where they introduced each other as they entered.

“That works out well.” Zhou Cangshan said, “Qingbo, the audit team will officially start working here tomorrow. Today, you can show Mr. Pei around the company. If he needs any information, just provide it.”

After Zhou Cangshan finished, he turned to Pei You and said, “my younger brother can be a bit naïve, Mr. Pei. If you could help him while working, I would be very grateful.”

“Not a problem,” Pei You said, “Building a good working relationship is the foundation of effective work. It’s also good to have Qingbo’s help.”

Zhou Cangshan obviously admired Pei You as a talented and promising young man. Satisfied, he nodded and gave some instructions to Zhou Qingbo before leaving to attend to his own work.

As soon as he left, Zhou Qingbo’s shoulders slumped, and he leaned back against his desk, relieved but also scared.

“I’m sorry.” Pei You realized he had been impulsive and apologized, “I shouldn’t have revealed our relationship without your permission.”

Zhou Qingbo was scared at first, but realizing Pei You apologized quickly, he didn’t hold it against him.

His temper flared up quickly but also subsided just as fast. After Pei You’s apology, Zhou Qingbo waved it off, saying, “Relationship? When did we have a relationship?”

Pei You: “…”

Pei You belatedly realized that his wording was a bit ambiguous and felt embarrassed. He cleared his throat and said, “I mean—”

“I know,” their relationship wasn’t at the point where they could make such jokes, and Zhou Qingbo regretted what he said, quickly changing the subject, “Thank you for covering for me just now.”

“You’re welcome,” Pei You said, “It’s my pleasure.”

With that awkward topic ended, a subtle silence hung in the air. Zhou Qingbo felt like the word “awkward” had materialized and filled up his entire office. That was unavoidable; anyone would need some time to buffer when meeting a failed blind date in a professional setting, let alone someone he had rejected.

Calm down. Zhou Qingbo tried to encourage himself. He was no longer Pei You’s blind date; they were now business partners.

As he urged himself on, he couldn’t bear the stifling silence anymore and stole a glance at Pei You. Unfortunately, Pei You was also looking at him, and their gazes met in midair. Both seemed like they were avoiding each other’s eyes.

The evasion was too obvious, making it all seem quite comical. After three seconds, Zhou Qingbo couldn’t hold back and chuckled, breaking the awkwardness.

“No need to be so awkward,” Pei You was the first to speak, his voice warm, “Business is business, and personal is personal. If you can’t accept it, let’s forget what happened before. You can trust me; I’ll keep your secret.”

Pei You thought for a moment and added with understanding, “Actually, you’re not the first person to reject me. I’m used to it.”

“Have you been rejected many times?” Zhou Qingbo asked.

“Thirty-two times.” Pei You shook his head helplessly, “You make it thirty-three.”

As Pei You said this, he seemed either helpless or self-deprecating. The corner of his lips curved slightly, as if he were smiling.

Perhaps leaving the blind date environment and entering the comfortable zone of “work” made Pei You seem a bit more relaxed than when they met at the resort. Zhou Qingbo looked at him and suddenly thought he looked quite handsome when he smiled.

Moreover, Pei You was not dressed as formally as during the blind date. A few strands of his hair fell on his forehead, making him look much more gentle when he smiled.

“You should smile more often,” Zhou Qingbo suddenly said.

“What?” Pei You didn’t catch on.

“Nothing,” Zhou Qingbo straightened up and changed the topic, “Shall we start working? I’ll take you to the Finance Department.”

Zhou Cangshan had already arranged an office for the audit team in the Finance Department, right next door. It was a fairly spacious meeting room equipped with basic office supplies and an office projector.

“This office is next to the Finance Department.” Zhou Qingbo stood at the door, pointing his chin towards the other side of the corridor, and said, “The red solid wood door over there is it.”

“My brother’s office is on the 23rd floor, and my office is on the 16th floor.” Zhou Qingbo didn’t know much about audit work, but he thought for a moment and suggested, “So… if there’s nothing else, maybe I should call the Chief Financial Officer to come over?”

“Let’s not rush.” Pei You said, “Can you take me to the Sales Department?”

“Why do you want to go to the Sales Department?” Zhou Qingbo asked, puzzled.

“We need to understand various departments. Besides the Sales Department, there’s also the Human Resources Department and the Project Department,” Pei You patiently explained. “Before coming here, I looked at the preliminary materials about your company. Qingshan is mainly involved in online e-commerce services and high-tech fields. So if we have the time, we should also visit the Sales Department.”

Pei You opened his briefcase and handed a piece of paper to Zhou Qingbo.

“This is a list of the preliminary materials we need from each department,” Pei You said. “It should all be prepared already; I already sent a copy of this list to Mr. Zhou earlier.”

The paper was filled with dozens of items, and at first glance, Zhou Qingbo felt like he was looking at an entire page of a book.

“Do we need all of these?” Zhou Qingbo asked.

“Yes,” Pei You replied. “Actually, I already gave a copy of this list to Mr. Zhou earlier, so these materials should be ready.”

Pei You switched the briefcase to his other hand and walked ahead of Zhou Qingbo towards the elevator. He pressed the button to call the elevator.

Zhou Qingbo held the title of the second boss on paper, but in reality, he only focused on his own work and rarely managed other departments throughout the year. Not to mention the business of other departments.

Instructed by Zhou Cangshan to help Pei You familiarize himself with the company, Zhou Qingbo had ended up being more of a departmental tour guide, following Pei You around and listening to him negotiate with various department managers to collect materials.

Zhou Qingbo’s understanding of finance was limited to whether stocks and funds were green or red. Following Pei You, he could grasp basic conversations, but after hearing too many technical discussions, it all became a blur.

After several hours of this, Zhou Qingbo felt like he had turned into a keyword catcher. Apart from understanding a few individual words, most of the time, he was in sleep mode.

“Mr. Zhou… Zhou Qingbo!”

Zhou Qingbo was lost in thought when he was suddenly called back to reality. He jolted and realized that the Finance Director he had been talking to earlier had left, while Pei You was standing at the door calling him.

Zhou Qingbo rubbed his face and stood up from the corner, hurrying over to join Pei You as they left the office.

“Are you done chatting?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’re done,” Pei You said. “If you’re too tired, you can go back and rest.”

After spending the whole day together, the inexplicable awkwardness between them had eased quite a bit. Both of them felt more relaxed, no longer needing to rehearse what they wanted to say three times in their minds.

“No need for that,” Zhou Qingbo tilted his head and stretched his stiff shoulders. He casually said, “I just couldn’t understand most of it, so I got bored.”

Pei You was a bit confused.

That day was just the preliminary preparation phase of their work. He only got a general understanding of the company’s internal situation. They hadn’t discussed specific professional issues in detail yet. Zhou Qingbo was the company’s internal manager, so he shouldn’t have trouble understanding all that.

Before he could ask about it, he saw Zhou Qingbo checking his watch and saying, “It’s almost time to leave for work. Is there any other department you want to visit?”

“No, that’s all,” Pei You said.

The internal management of Qingshan had undergone professional consulting reforms, so there were no major issues. Besides, Zhou Cangshan had long been thinking about going public, so the preliminary preparations were well done, and the coordination between various processes was smooth.

Pei You’s team was only responsible for the audit work before going public. Other consulting projects and equity planning were not under their team’s jurisdiction.

“How about grabbing a cup of coffee?” Zhou Qingbo suggested. “The coffee shop downstairs happens to have chestnut cake too.”

Their relationship at work was much more straightforward than during their blind date. After spending the whole day with Pei You, Zhou Qingbo found that he was different from his initial impression. He first appeared serious and earnest, but when working, he wasn’t arrogant. Sometimes Zhou Qingbo asked him some basic common-sense questions, and he patiently answered each one.

The image of a quirky old man gradually faded from Zhou Qingbo’s mind. He felt a bit guilty for criticizing him so much before and couldn’t help but try to compensate by sending out more friendly signals.

At first, Pei You was inclined to refuse but couldn’t help laughing when he heard the second part of Zhou Qingbo’s suggestion. He seemed a bit tempted but hesitated for a moment, then pursed his lips and shook his head, hesitating, “It’s still working hours now.”

“It’s okay,” Zhou Qingbo shrugged, taking the matter into his own hands. He was skipping work himself and leading a diligent student astray. He confidently said, “Work hours are meant for slacking off.”

The coffee shop downstairs was located in the office building and mainly served the high-end white-collar workers from the nearby buildings. Zhou Qingbo was evidently a prominent member of the slacking-off army during working hours, so much so that the owner of the coffee shop knew what he wanted to order as soon as he saw him.

“Mocha again today?” the owner asked.

“One mocha, one chestnut cake, and one three-color cookie,” Zhou Qingbo said, turning back to ask, “What would you like?”

“Americano, thank you,” Pei You said.

It was 4:30 in the afternoon, a time neither too early nor too late. The coffee shop had no other customers except for the two of them. Pei You placed his briefcase on the seat next to him and sat by the window with Zhou Qingbo.

Handcrafted coffee takes a bit of time, and Zhou Qingbo was absentmindedly flipping through the menu on the table. Pei You seemed to hesitate to say something twice, as if he wanted to ask something but didn’t know how to start.

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Qingbo asked. “Is there something you want to ask me?”

“I actually want to ask you a question,” Pei You asked earnestly, “Why don’t you want to get closer to me?”

Pei You had been wanting to ask that question for a while, but his previous blind date experiences either ended in no further contact after one meal or avoiding each other to death after the second meeting. Pei You wasn’t good at winning people’s favor, so he didn’t want to initiate and make it unpleasant.

However, Zhou Qingbo was an open-minded person. After spending time with Pei You, he thought he might be able to get an answer from him.

He genuinely looked puzzled, not hinting or beating around the bush. After giving it some thought, Zhou Qingbo offered a safer answer.

“There’s actually no specific reason,” Zhou Qingbo said, “You’re a nice person, but…”

“Here we go again,” Pei You shook his head, looking rather helpless. “Those people before said the same thing, that I’m a good person, but just not suitable.”

Pei You’s previous first impression was too much like an elite, so it was quite refreshing to see him show a bit of frustration now. Zhou Qingbo found him much more interesting than before.

“It’s not about you;,” Zhou Qingbo paused, explaining, “I just prefer being single.”

This reason was evidently much stronger and convincing and Pei You felt a bit relieved, though he wasn’t sure if he should be happy or disappointed.

“It’s a shame,” Pei You said truthfully, “I actually thought we would get along well.”

Zhou Qingbo couldn’t help but chuckle and waved his hand. “Getting to know each other is a long process. Anyone can pretend to be someone else within two hours. To truly know if you get along with someone, a meal’s time is far from enough.”

Zhou Qingbo wasn’t surprised that he had gained Pei You’s first good impression during their blind date. At that time, he had pretended to be a social elite, and that style seemed to match Pei You’s. But Zhou Qingbo knew he wasn’t any kind of young talent; at most, he was just a gossiping salted fish. Pei You’s favorable impression of him was purely based on that short-term illusion.

He was quite self-aware and didn’t want to lead on Pei You, leaving him trapped in a false impression, nor did he want to compromise and pretend to be someone he wasn’t, acting like a superior all the time.

“Like me,” Zhou Qingbo said with a smile, “If you knew my true personality, you might not feel so disappointed.”

“Really?” Pei You didn’t fully believe him. “So, what’s your personality like?”

That question was somewhat beyond their current relationship scope, and Zhou Qingbo raised an eyebrow, finished the last sip of coffee, and gave him a vague answer.

“I can’t say that; I have to maintain some dignity.”

Zhou Qingbo raised his hand, glanced at his watch, and stood up from the chair.

“Alright, it’s time for me to leave work,” Zhou Qingbo said, smiling at Pei You. “Wishing us a pleasant workday tomorrow.”