Huang Xiaopang: "There’s a welco dinner today. President E booked three tables at Songyue Building. The whole departnt is going to eat and drink for free, she just announced it in front of everyone!"
He Kao wondered: "Welco dinner, is there a new employee joining again?"
Huang Xiaopang: "What were you doing just now, daydreaming? President E brought over the new employee to introduce to everyone, greeted each person individually, even you got a greeting. I saw you nodding too!"
He Kao pointed at his headphones: "I was listening to sothing, didn’t pay attention, didn’t hear a thing."
After listening to Huang Xiaopang’s account, He Kao finally knew that around five o’clock in the afternoon, Gao Xue’e brought soone into the open space, introduced them to everyone, saying this was the new employee joining the departnt. His na is Qian Guran, and he is a PhD student in Urban Planning at Chunhua University’s School of Architecture.
He Kao was so focused on listening to the recording at the ti, totally unaware while sitting at his workstation. Qian Guran went around greeting everyone one by one, and when he arrived at He Kao, He Kao even nodded.
Turns out it was his subconscious reaction, yet he had no recollection of it in his mory!
Huang Xiaopang: "You’re really too focused on work, hurry up and get off work to drink."
He Kao took off his headphones, shook his head, and said: "I’m not going today, can you let President E know for ?"
Huang Xiaopang: "Are you not feeling well?"
He Kao: "Just not in a good mood, don’t want to go!"
Huang Xiaopang: "You’re kind of weird today, buddy."
He Kao’s reaction was indeed unusual. In Huang Xiaopang’s impression, he had always been smart and obedient, the standard "model child" in the eyes of the neighbors.
At work, unlike Huang Xiaopang who would often banter with the leadership, He Kao was very considerate of others’ emotions, reading the room was almost an instinct ingrained in his bones.
He Kao wasn’t the type of social butterfly who could easily get on with everyone, in fact he had a slight social anxiety, but he was very sensitive and mindful of his own behavior, accustod to avoiding conflicts as much as possible, not displeasing others.
Gao Xue’e had a habit, whenever there was a new employee joining, she would organize a welco event like team building, even if busy she would find ti to go out for a al, and the places were pretty high-end.
Gao Xue’e was quite assertive with her subordinates, these gatherings were generally mandatory, even using overti as an excuse wouldn’t work. Since joining, He Kao had never missed such an event.
Huang Xiaopang had no objections in this regard because he was a foodie, each ti he would shalessly order a few dishes he wanted to eat the most, anyway it ca out of the departnt’s event budget.
For He Kao to not want to go today indeed felt strange to Huang Xiaopang, but he didn’t persuade him and instead patted his shoulder: "If you don’t want to go, don’t go, I’ll let them know, say you’re not feeling well today.
But don’t forget to notify President E, send a WeChat ssage or sothing, otherwise she’ll bring it up with you later."
No way would He Kao attend the gathering today, he hadn’t finished listening to that recording, and his mind was occupied elsewhere. After importing the processed audio file back into his phone, he returned alone to his apartnt to continue listening.
In the apartnt, he heard the na and address of the second informant, and was taken aback again - it turned out to be Gao Xue’e.
Huang Xiaopang had just ntioned that Gao Xue’e was in a bad mood today, so He Kao realized the reason. President E had just encountered sothing strange last night, it would be odd if her emotions were stable.
Upon hearing Gao Xue’e’s na, it seed to remind him of sothing, pressing the pause button, he sent President E a ssage saying he wasn’t feeling well today and couldn’t attend the gathering.
President E quickly replied to the ssage, criticizing him for not asking for leave earlier if unwell, not when everyone was already gathered.
He Kao replied: "President E, so sorry, I’m really not feeling well today!" He thought for a bit and added, "Today’s departntal gathering was a sudden notification, I wasn’t aware in advance, couldn’t ask for leave earlier."
The leadership obviously wasn’t too pleased, yet he didn’t have his usual unease, instead not yielding, returning a sowhat resistant reply, it felt quite different from usual.
This might have been because of his bad mood, and more probably because he had just heard a "secret" about Gao Xue’e, facing her now with an inexplicable psychological advantage.
This mindset was rather strange, even utterly unfounded, yet it was precisely this subtle. He then continued listening to the recording, after a while Gao Xue’e sent another ssage—
"I ant that next ti you’re unwell, ask for leave earlier! Are you feeling better now? If still unwell, it would be best to visit the hospital."
Of course, He Kao didn’t go to the hospital, after finishing the recording, he started from the beginning, carefully re-listening to the ninety-minute conversation.
While listening, he occasionally paused, took out paper and pen, recording and organizing quite a bit of content. Once he finished the second round, he brought three full sheets of writing into the bathroom and burned them.
Then he opened his laptop, found a deeply nested hidden folder, stored the audio file here, and even renad it with a featureless na, burying it among a heap of chaotic, unreadable, routinely generated system files.
Such a file bundle was what programrs commonly referred to as a "shit mountain", then he completely deleted the original file from his phone.
Right then a sudden knocking echoed, startling He Kao unexpectedly. He got up to open the door and found Huang Xiaopang standing outside along with a man sporting a smile.
He Kao: "Why are you here?"
Huang Xiaopang sidestepped into the place: "I ca to check if you’re still in one piece, seems like you’re alive!"
The man at the door explained: "President E heard you’re not well and sent us to see if there’s anything you need help with. Coincidentally, I also live in this apartnt, on the sa floor as you, what a coincidence!"
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