Parasite (5): It’s an unspoken rule

Tan Xiao arrived at the company at 9:00 that day. If he did not work overtime, his normal working hours were from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon.  

Everyone ate in the company cafeteria, the lunch break was only one hour, and then they worked from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm.  

However, most of the time, Tan Xiao couldn’t leave work on time. On Mondays, the company usually held regular meetings, and sometimes he couldn’t leave until 9 PM.  

This was also why Tan Xiao was almost always on time for work on Mondays. The time for the Monday meeting wasn’t compensated with overtime pay, so he felt like he was at a big loss if he arrived even a minute early.  

After working for about two hours in the morning, with just an hour left until mealtime, a message suddenly appeared in the colleague group chat where they were chatting. It was sent by their company’s general manager, tagging everyone.  

XR-Manager Li: “It has been a pleasure working with everyone during this time, but I will be reassigned to another subsidiary after today. From now on, all company matters will be handled by Manager Wen. Let’s welcome Manager Wen! I hope everyone can cooperate with Manager Wen’s work just as you did with mine!”  

That was right. Although colleagues in the company used nicknames, leaders at the level of general manager were different. In the group, besides the nickname, there was still a note like “General Manager X.” After all, top leaders needed to maintain their own authority.  

Their nicknames were given by their superiors and had nothing to do with ordinary workers like Tan Xiao.  

When Tan Xiao saw “Mr. Wen,” he thought: This surname is the same as Wen Yi’s.  

The person referred to as “Mr. Wen” by the other party was added to the work group. Tan Xiao took a glance and saw that the profile picture was different from Wen Yi’s, so it should just be a coincidence.  

He didn’t know what Wen Yi was doing—whether he was resting at home or going out to work like him.  

After all, their antics over the past two days had been really excessive. When Tan Xiao left in the morning, Wen Yi was still all sticky and sleepy, so he didn’t bother to message him.  

His work in the morning was indeed very busy, and the content was quite tedious, with nothing interesting happening during that time.  

Speaking of which, since the two of them were already in a relationship, it was quite normal for them to share their daily lives with each other.  

Tan Xiao then directly copied and pasted someone else’s welcome message, showing a very perfunctory attitude.  

R2: “Welcome, President Wen, confetti!” Then he simultaneously opened another chat window, actively sent a window shake, and then sent a message to Wen Yi.  

Mr. Y’s X: “Baby, did you wake up? Today at the company, we suddenly changed our general manager. Funny enough, he has the same last name as you, Wen.”  

Tan Xiao did not associate Mr. Wen with Wen Yi. After all, Wen Yi was indeed too young.  

Wen Yi almost replied to messages instantly.  

Mr. X’s Y: “I’m already awake, thanks for your concern, baby. Sounds quite coincidental, doesn’t it?”  

After the two people had been affectionate, although they often stuck together, it was impossible to always be looking at each other’s faces.  

After all, they were not beasts in their heat period. When they spent time together, they did more than just eat and drink; they also played games together.  

Sometimes, Wen Yi needed to contact Tan Xiao through the phone, so he insisted on changing their couple profile pictures and names right away.  

Not only did he change the phone notes and social media apps, but he even changed the profile picture and nickname in the game, so outsiders could see at a glance that Tan Xiao was taken.  

It was just that Tan Xiao had already changed the group nickname, and unless someone was paying attention, no colleague would be bored enough during their vacation to check their colleague’s profile page, so no one was able to find out right away that Tan Xiao was already off the market.  

At that moment, Wen Yi, accompanied by General Manager Li, had just arrived at the headquarters of KK Smart Company.  

Originally, according to Mr. Li’s intention, all the company’s colleagues were supposed to come out to welcome Wen Yi, but Wen Yi rejected the fuss from the other side: “Everyone still has to work. No need to make such a big deal.”  

“I’ll come over and work as usual. Just hand over the previous work content normally.”  

He wore a rather expensive formal outfit that day, exuding an imposing and stern demeanor. Although he was exceptionally handsome, he commanded respect and made people wary.  

Although General Manager Li was older and prided himself on being very capable, his actual position in the CS Group was still far from that of the parachuted prince.  

“Mr. Wen truly cares about the company. Under your leadership, KK Smart Company will definitely grow and become stronger.”  

Wen Yi curled his lips slightly, not at all impressed by such flattery. He had heard similar words far too many times; no matter how sweet or exaggerated the other person might be, it couldn’t move him at all.  

Wen Yi, accompanied by General Manager Li, arrived at the office area of KK Smart Company in a low-key manner. During the process, he did not look around and did not allow any employees to come close. The transfer of power was swift and discreet.  

After declining General Manager Li’s enthusiastic dinner invitation, Wen Yi began reviewing the financial reports, projects, employee structure, and other detailed information of the KK Smart subsidiary.  

Sitting in the spacious office belonging to the general manager, he suddenly received a message from Tan Xiao.  

Wen Yi couldn’t help but smile and sent a reply to his pinned lover using his personal phone.  

To reach his position, of course, he couldn’t just use one account; his personal and work accounts were kept very separate.  

When he lowered his head to send a message to Tan Xiao, his expression and demeanor became very gentle.  

Seeing Wen Yi’s response, Tan Xiao jokingly said, “They say a new official brings three fires. I hope this Mr. Wen is an easygoing person. We don’t expect him to lead the company to glory, just as long as he doesn’t give erratic orders and suddenly stop our projects.”  

When working on a project, the worst thing was when the boss or the client suddenly decided to shelve it. All the effort everyone put in just went to waste.  

He was considered a technician and had been with the company for three years. He even served as a team leader when taking on projects, but Tan Xiao still disliked that kind of insincere socializing and had no great ambition to climb the corporate ladder.  

But with a new boss, there would definitely be new changes. Tan Xiao was worried about getting caught up in office politics.  

Companies and schools were two different ecosystems. When studying, grades were quantified, and if you had strong abilities, you could rank at the top. However, in a company, even if you had strong technical skills and did more work than others, you might not necessarily receive a higher salary.  

Tan Xiao´s work at KK Smart Company was quite good, but his boss, being a direct subordinate of the former general manager and having joined the company earlier, had a much lower level of skill and much less work to do, yet his salary was more than three times that of Tan Xiao’s.  

But this was the complexity of society; unless one started their own business, there was little one could do to change things. He could only pray that the new general manager who had been parachuted in was a capable and good leader, so that his career could advance further.  

At that point, Wen Yi had already seen the company’s employee composition. As a subsidiary, KK Smart Company had no more than 150 actual employees, and he almost immediately spotted a very familiar name.  

Wait a minute. Recalling the message Tan Xiao sent, Wen Yi quickly switched back to the company group page and, sure enough, found a familiar avatar among the group members.  

He didn’t expect that Tan Xiao was an employee of KK Smart Company, and he just happened to have taken over this subsidiary at that time. You should know that in the vast city of A, there were thousands of companies, and the CS Group had hundreds of subsidiaries under its name.  

What did this mean? It meant that his connection with Tan Xiao was truly destined by heaven!  

Wen Yi’s smile was even brighter than before as he continued to message Tan Xiao.  

Mr. X’s Y: “No way, maybe he really appreciates you. Seeing how outstanding you are, he might promote and give you a raise right away.”  

Everyone loved to hear nice words. Although Tan Xiao didn’t think the new boss would have any interaction with a small employee like him, he happily replied, “Thanks for the kind words! If I get a promotion and a raise, I’ll treat you to a meal and buy you a gift!”  

Wen Yi was distractedly working while chatting with Tan Xiao.  

Mr. X’s Y: “If you don’t get promoted and get a raise, you won’t buy me gifts anymore?”  

With a smile, Tan Xiao immediately replied, “Of course not! If I got a promotion and a raise, I could buy you more expensive and better gifts!”  

Wen Yi: “I don’t care whether it’s expensive or not. As long as it’s a gift from you, I like it.”  

He hinted, “Of course, if this gift were you yourself, I would like it even more.”  

Seriously! Falling in love really did affect work. When Tan Xiao saw the content Wen Yi posted, he imagined some overly crazy and suggestive scenes, and his cheeks turned bright red.  

He steadied his mind. Although his wife was very important, work was also very important. Even though there was a huge economic disparity between him and Wen Yi, he could not comfortably live off his wealth.  

Even if you didn’t earn a lot of money, you must have independent financial capability.  

With a laugh, he picked up the small fan from his desk and blew it towards his face, trying to cool both his cheeks and his brain. He sent a message to Wen Yi: “Alright, baby, I need to get back to work. Let’s chat again in an hour during lunch break.”  

Except for the cleaning lady responsible for tidying up the office and the salespeople who were out and about, KK Smart Company’s employees were called into the office one by one by Wen Yi according to their ranks.  

Their company not only had large groups led by the leaders but also some small groups where people privately vented.  

The heads of this small company were called in by Wen Yi, followed by the department managers. Most of them came out in about three to five minutes, while some stayed a bit longer, taking up to ten minutes.  

Some people came out looking radiant, while others had ashen faces, as if they had suffered a major blow.  

Tan Xiao didn’t care about what happened to his colleagues. After all, he had always worked diligently, never done anything bad, and never participated in the company’s factional struggles. He was just a pure technician.  

He only cared about one thing: there were so many people in the company, and excluding the dozens of salespeople working outside, there were at least 100 people. If everyone was called in, averaging three minutes each, it would take five or six hours.  

It was almost mealtime. Would he still be able to make it to the company cafeteria in time?  

You know, for some delicious dishes, everyone would even leave a few minutes early. If you went too late, there would be nothing left.  

If it was still not his turn later, should he order takeout first?  

More and more people entered the general manager’s office, and as mealtime approached, not a single person got up to go eat.  

His office supervisor also obediently sat at their desk, waiting until the closing bell rang in the hallway.  

This office building belonged to the CS Group, and if several subsidiaries had the same closing time, the noon closing bell served as a reminder for colleagues to clock in, since the lunch break wasn’t considered working hours.  

Tan Xiao felt a bit down, struggling with whether to be the one to go to the cafeteria first.  

At that moment, someone familiar with Wen Yi couldn’t help but excitedly speak up in the small group: “Did you all just see? The new General Manager Wen is so young and handsome! He looks just like a domineering CEO straight out of a comic!”  

Tan Xiao just glanced at the group that sent a lot of messages.  

“I heard he graduated from a prestigious university! He’s only 27 this year, of course he’s young, and he even studied abroad!”  

“How can someone so young become the head of our company? His abilities are just too impressive.”  

Originally, their company’s General Manager Li was already 47 years old, while General Manager Wen sounded like a young person who had just graduated with a PhD.  

“Your information is outdated, right? He’s the crown prince sent directly from headquarters. He’s just here to gain some experience at our subsidiary. He probably won’t stay long before returning to headquarters, so don’t overthink it.”  

Although they didn’t know why Little Wen always worked at the branch office instead of going directly to the headquarters, who could say they understood everything about the boss’s affairs?  

If they had the ability to gather information like that, they wouldn’t just be minor employees at a subsidiary.  

Some strangely familiar words suddenly caught Tan Xiao’s attention.  

27 years old, surname Wen, just went abroad to study, and very wealthy.  

No way, right? It couldn’t be that coincidental, but the profile picture of that Wen in the group was clearly different from Wen Yi’s.  

At that moment, Tan Xiao’s direct supervisor came out of the general manager’s office, walked up to him, patted Tan Xiao on the shoulder, and said, “R2, President Wen wants to see you.”  

Although he was a software engineer, he was only at the team leader level, not a supervisor, so he shouldn’t have to be called in.  

Tan Xiao felt inexplicably nervous, picked up his phone, adjusted his collar and hair using the camera, and then marched towards the closed office of the general manager.  

He gently tapped the door with his finger from outside: “General Manager?”  

“Come in.” Through the door, the new general manager’s voice was somewhat distorted, yet it inexplicably carried a sense of familiarity.  

When he opened the door, the general manager was completely behind the screen, with his back to him.  

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the other person’s office chair spun around, revealing a face that was all too familiar, full of laughter and familiarity.  

He stood there as if his feet had grown roots, suddenly becoming a motionless wooden figure.  

It was Wen Yi. It was really Wen Yi!  

This kind of scene, which seemed like it only happened in TV dramas, was just too shocking. Tan Xiao felt his head buzzing, and his usually sharp brain felt like it had rusted, the gears stuck and unable to turn.  

Why did his boyfriend, whom he was dating and living with, suddenly become his boss? According to the gossip he overheard in the break room, he was already set to join the company before he even met him, so this should just be a pure coincidence.  

Still smiling gently, Wen Yi stood up from the office chair, walked over to Tan Xiao, and closed the office door.  

“Click.”  

Tan Xiao’s heart jumped as violently as the sound of the door locking, staring blankly as the other person placed that beautiful hand on his shoulder.  

The young, handsome, and wealthy general manager moved in an ambiguous manner, sliding his hand along the shoulder of Tan Xiao to his slim waist, then hugged him from behind: “Let’s talk business.”  

At that moment, in Tan Xiao’s mind, a thought inexplicably popped: “Is he experiencing the unspoken rules of the office?”  

Ten minutes later, Tan Xiao, with a flushed face and slightly swollen lips, left the general manager’s office.  

They didn’t do anything described below the neck in the office either. After all, that day wasn’t quite the right time.  

As for why Wen Yi used a different account at the company than the one given to him, the other person explained while being all clingy and affectionate: “Baby, the one I gave you is definitely my personal account. There will be many people adding me at work, so I keep my work account separate.”  

As a member of the board of directors of the CS Group, his work was actually very extensive, and he always had to create several accounts to deal with those so-called connections and other subordinates.  

But he added very few people on his private account. Apart from his parents and relatives, it was just Tan Xiao.  

Just now in the office, they were chatting and doing nothing, and Tan Xiao even added Wen Yi’s work number.  

“Before coming here, I didn’t know anything, but I didn’t deliberately hide it from you. It’s just that you didn’t ask, baby.”  

Wen Yi spoke with righteous indignation, and it wasn’t good to joke around because this matter may make the other party angry.  

Because Wen Yi was right, he was also a fool blinded by beauty. The two of them had just been messing around those past couple of days, and they didn’t really know each other well.  

During the lunch break, Tan Xiao naturally couldn’t go to the cafeteria to eat. Wen Yi first sent a lucky red envelope in the company group: “I ordered food from Xiang Mantang outside the company. Let’s all gather for this meal. I hope we can get along well from now on.”  

Wen Yi didn’t plan to keep calling in ordinary employees one by one. As the company’s general manager, he didn’t want to be the kind of approachable leader who mingled with everyone. A proper sense of distance was very necessary.  

Xiang Mantang was a nearby four-star restaurant, with an average price starting at 500 yuan per person.  

Most of them were ordinary workers; not everyone could afford to eat at such expensive restaurants.  

Tan Xiao’s colleagues were all going crazy: “Mr. Wen is indeed the crown prince, so generous!”  

Not only because the boss was generous with his treat, but also because the amount of the lucky draw red envelope was huge. In a group of over 100 people, everyone got a share, and almost everyone could grab dozens or even hundreds of red envelopes.  

Wen Yi was still speaking in the company group: “The dinner might take up a lot of your time. After everyone finishes eating, let’s take the afternoon off today.”  

On the first day of the new general manager’s arrival, he gave them half a day off, which moved the workers to tears.  

Someone in the group took the lead in cheering: “Long live General Manager Wen, thank you General Manager Wen, the boss will definitely get rich!”  

A group of people behind him copied and pasted their thanks to General Manager Wen. Of course, there were also those who racked their brains to flatter him, but just by looking at the text, it was obvious it was pulled from a search engine.  

Tan Xiao didn’t just copy and paste this time; he specifically searched through his saved stickers and picked a rather cute rabbit spinning around and throwing flowers to thank the boss.  

He picked out another message from the private chat with Wen Yi.  

The work account of Wen Yi that was just added sent him a 666 red envelope.  

Mr. Wen: “Baby, you didn’t get first place in the luck game just now, so this is for you. I hope everything goes smoothly for you!”  

Tan Xiao accepted the red envelope without any pretense or refusal.

Because the company had quite a few people, even a large table that could seat 30 people couldn’t accommodate everyone.  

So during the dinner gathering, Wen Yi directly booked several private rooms, and naturally, Tan Xiao was assigned to the same room as the new General Manager Wen.  

On Wen Yi’s table, all the ministers were sitting together, Tan Xiao was at another round table in the same private room. However, the two people were sitting very close to each other, so close that they could touch each other with just a reach.  

The subordinates each toasted the new General Manager Wen, but Wen Yi mostly just took a small sip; he was still drinking wine mixed with Sprite.  

Tan Xiao was of course asked to toast by his direct superior.  

He tried hard to keep his expression neutral, but Wen Yi took the initiative to stand up and clink glasses with him: “Our company really relies on outstanding technical personnel like you, Mr Tan.”  

The two glasses made a crisp clinking sound. There were many people toasting to Wen Yi, but the only one who stood up to clink glasses and even proactively finished a drink was this one.  

Although no one knew how Tan Xiao had caught the new general manager’s eye, everyone eagerly agreed.  

“Yes, yes, yes, Mr Tan’s work ability is indeed very outstanding. I was even thinking of giving him a raise before.”  

“It seems like Mr Tan has been with our company for three years now, and his supervisor position is currently going through the process.”  

Tan Xiao’s direct supervisor had previously brought up the promotion for him, but it was suppressed by General Manager Li, who said that Tan Xiao was too young and that they would discuss it again after this project was completed.  

At that moment, these people had changed their tune again, talking to Tan Xiao as if nothing had happened.  

The workplace was so hypocritical and cruel. The laughter and jokes didn’t float away because of these flatteries, but when he looked at the cup in his hand that Wen Yi had touched, he still felt a lump in his throat.  

The car he borrowed on Friday had already been returned to his friend. Anyway, he took the subway after work, so he didn’t have to worry about being checked for drunk driving.  

After the party, the employees dispersed, as General Manager Wen had announced a holiday for everyone, and the department heads couldn’t possibly ruin the mood by calling everyone back to work.  

Moreover, quite a few people had drinks, and some male colleagues were even tipsy.  

Cars drove away one by one from Xiang Mantang, and Tan Xiao, who was planning to take the subway, received a message from General Manager Wen.  

“Come to the underground parking lot.”  

Tan Xiao walked over and then discovered a luxury car with its hazard lights on, parked in the underground garage near Xiang Mangtang.  

Wen Yi had many properties under his name, and this underground garage was certainly one of his assets.  

Tan Xiao held his phone and walked in, only to be pulled into the car by a hand, followed by a kiss that smelled of alcohol.  

This car had anti-peeping film applied, and the front windshield was also lowered.  

Wen Yi tapped the leather seat with his finger and said suggestively, “I sent the driver away. I’ll call him back when I need him.”  

Tan Xiao in formal work attire and Tan Xiao in the restaurant, as well as Tan Xiao in casual wear during vacations, all had their own unique charm.  

He deliberately said, “Mr Tan, you want to get promoted and get a raise smoothly, right?”  

The “threatened” Mr Tan, with his young and handsome face, displayed a subtle humiliated expression, his hand tensed with bulging veins, reaching for the button of the expensive suit of his wicked boss.  

In the cramped car space, he vented his suppressed “anger,” working harder than usual to please his boss.  

Looking at the flushed face in the rearview mirror, with the scent of high-end perfume and heather on the tip of the nose, the brain slightly tipsy from the alcohol thought dizzily: This must be the unspoken rules of the workplace!