Holding her tray, Xue Yue scanned the cafeteria. She finally spotted ng Ye sitting by a window, eating alone.
Xue Yue walked over and sat down across from her.
ng Ye looked up at her and smiled. "All done?"
Xue Yue: "Not yet. My team leader said a healthy body is essential for getting work done, so she told to eat first and finish up afterward."
ng Ye nodded. "Exactly. It’s hard to focus when you’re hungry. Your team leader sounds pretty nice. A man or a woman?"
"A woman. She’s a bit serious, but she seems nice. What about you?"
ng Ye said, "My team leader is really easy to talk to, always smiling. But I didn’t get any tasks all morning. I just sat there."
Xue Yue nodded. "We’re new and don’t know anything yet. I’m sure we’ll get work eventually."
"Yeah."
When Xue Yue got back to the office after lunch, she saw that Sister Feng was already there.
Xue Yue didn’t hear her call out, so she quickly sat down and resud her work from the morning.
A little after five in the afternoon, Xue Yue finally finished. She knocked on the door.
"Co in."
Xue Yue walked in. "Sister Feng, I’ve finished organizing everything."
Feng Yujie was writing sothing, her head lowered.
"Put it down and head out."
Xue Yue opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn’t say anything. She put the docunts down and left.
After Xue Yue left, Feng Yujie picked up the files she had organized. They were marked up ticulously. Feng Yujie nodded. "Her handwriting is nice."
Back at her desk, with no other tasks at hand, Xue Yue tidied up her workstation and wiped down her desk.
She stood up and scanned the office area.
Slogans written by the higher-ups were hanging on the walls.
At six o’clock, which was quitting ti, Xue Yue sat at her desk, unsure if she should leave, because Sister Feng hadn’t left yet.
She waited until seven o’clock. When Feng Yujie ca out and saw Xue Yue was still there, she glanced at her watch.
"In the future, if I haven’t assigned you any work before quitting ti, you can just leave when the day is over. When I get busy, I sotis lose track of ti. Zhao Li took the day off today, but she’ll be back tomorrow. She’ll go over so of the details with you."
Xue Yue nodded and said, "Okay."
There was another empty workstation in the office, so Xue Yue knew there was one more person on the team.
She went ho that evening.
He Lang asked her, "How was your first day of work?"
"It was okay, I guess. I probably just haven’t gotten used to it yet. I feel a little nervous."
"What’s wrong? Did your coworkers give you a hard ti?"
"No."
The sudden change in her role would naturally take so ti to get used to.
The next day, when Xue Yue arrived at the office, she saw soone was already there.
"You must be the new colleague, right?"
Xue Yue nodded. "Are you Sister Zhao?"
Zhao Li nodded, then said to Xue Yue, "Just call Zhao Li. We all call Team Leader Feng ’Sister Feng’."
Xue Yue smiled, nodded, and said, "Okay."
Zhao Li handed Xue Yue a rulebook.
"I had a family matter yesterday, so I took the day off. This is the code of conduct we have to morize for our positions. Every single rule in here must be followed. Our usual work is to organize and file docunts, complete tasks assigned by Sister Feng, and coordinate with other departnts. Most importantly, Sister Feng doesn’t like talkative people, so try not to be chatty."
"Okay."
"Our departnt is pretty small. When we get in in the morning, we just tidy up the office. For everything else, we just wait for Sister Feng’s instructions."
Xue Yue nodded.
With a coworker to guide her, Xue Yue felt everything went much more smoothly that day.
If there was sothing she didn’t understand, Zhao Li would explain it to her.
At noon, she went to the cafeteria with Zhao Li and ran into Zheng Guofeng, who was just walking in.
Zheng Guofeng didn’t shy away from her and asked, "Is work going smoothly?"
Xue Yue smiled. "It’s going well."
Zheng Guofeng nodded. "That’s good. If you run into any difficulties, you can co find ."
"I will."
Once Zheng Guofeng was out of earshot, Zhao Li linked her arm with Xue Yue’s and asked in a low voice, "You know our deputy director pretty well, huh?"
Xue Yue paused for a mont. "I guess so."
Zhao Li pulled Xue Yue along to get their food, and once they sat down, she continued to pry about her relationship with Zheng Guofeng.
Xue Yue just said that Zheng Guofeng was a distant uncle of hers, and that was all.
Zhao Li smiled, perhaps not quite believing her, but she remained just as enthusiastic toward Xue Yue.
When Xue Yue went ho, she told He Lang about it. He Lang told her, "It’s no big deal if they know. Once they know you have backing, they won’t dare to bully you."
"No one is bullying ."
He Lang smiled. "I’m just giving you an example. You and Uncle Zheng are bound to see each other at work. Since he wasn’t trying to hide your connection, it ans he doesn’t think it’s a big deal. You shouldn’t overthink it either."
Xue Yue thought about it. ’He has a point. Besides, I’m just a junior assistant. I’m worlds away from people at the leadership level. I probably won’t even have much contact with them.’
What Xue Yue didn’t expect was that after only a week on the job, she suddenly received a notice from Sister Feng: one of them, either her or Zhao Li, would have to accompany her on a trip to SL.
When Xue Yue heard "going abroad," she froze for a second, then imdiately looked at Zhao Li. ’After all, an opportunity like this wouldn’t fall to ; I’m just a newcor.’
Unexpectedly, Zhao Li said, "Sister Feng, why don’t you let Xiao Xue go? She knows Russian. I don’t speak a word of it."
Feng Yujie looked at Xue Yue. "That works. Go ho and pack. We’re taking the train to Moscow tomorrow afternoon."
Xue Yue had no choice but to nod.
But after she sat down, she still felt a bit dazed. ’I’m... going abroad.’
After getting ho from work, Xue Yue started packing. She’d heard that Moscow was very cold this ti of year, so she packed a few cotton-padded jackets and so daily necessities in her suitcase.
It wasn’t until dinner that she told her family about it.
"SL? You’re going abroad? That place is so far from here."
"How many of you are going?"
Xue Yue shook her head. "I’m not sure. My team leader just told to get ready and that we’re leaving tomorrow afternoon."
He Lang didn’t say a word throughout the al. After dinner, he pulled Xue Yue into their room.
Xue Yue asked him, "What’s wrong? Why do you look like that?"
He Lang’s voice was low. "I heard they’re at war with another country over there. It’s not safe. Plus, their relationship with our country has been at a freezing point for years. What are you guys going there for? Even if it’s for business negotiations, it shouldn’t be a newcor like you going, right?"
Hearing this, Xue Yue looked at He Lang.
"Since my team leader asked to go, I can’t refuse. Even if it’s really like you say, the leadership must have considered all that. It’s not my place to worry about it."
He Lang frowned. "Can’t they send soone else?"
Xue Yue shook her head. "I think an opportunity like this is hard to co by, and I shouldn’t back down. He Lang, the first rule in our work regulations is to prioritize the country and the people, to heed the organization’s call, and to obey all commands. So, I want to go."
Looking at such a resolute Xue Yue, He Lang didn’t know whether to feel proud or worried.
Xue Yue hugged He Lang and patted his back. "It’ll be okay. I’ll co back safely."
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