Are You Addicted?

In a flash, eight years pa.s.sed by.

Eight years ago, all the childhood friends who would never hold back anything and stuck with Gu Hai, became strangers in the blink of an eye. Once when Gu Hai went abroad, he incidentally came across Li Shuo who had immigrated to Canada long ago. As he discussed his life abroad and other various details, Li Shuo could not help but sigh and lament on how life was before.

"You know, I really missed those youthful days in the Imperial City and envy the fact that you could celebrate New Year by visiting. What wouldn"t I do to eat a bowl of authentic hotpot right now."

"You can go back any time." Gu Hai had said somewhat indifferent at his predicament.

Li Shuo sighed with sorrow yet again, "I don"t have a home there anymore. If I return, I"ll just be a migrant worker without residency."

"Even if your home is gone, the people are still there."

As if not hearing what Gu Hai had advised, Li Shuo suddenly recalled something, "Oh, that"s right! Where"s Bai Luo Yin now?"

"I don"t know." Gu Hai said, veiling his unspoken emotions safely within the depths of his chest, "He should also be abroad."

"He should be?"

"Yeah."

This is a private high-tech enterprise, situated in Beijing"s Zhōngguāncūn High Tech Development Zone, known for electronic shops and bookstores. Its primary profession is to supply the military and civilians" electronic industries with a high-level system integration services as well as a variety of communications equipment. Although many companies like this could be found everywhere in Zhōngguāncūn, this company has its own unique administrative style that has continuously enable it to receive much public attention, especially in the industry.

In this company, aside from the president, everyone else ranging from top level senior management leaders to the lower-level employees were all women, furthermore, their features can only be described as having only one main ingredient, beauty.

Normally in this kind of industry, female workers would not occupy such a dominant position, but this president has a severe s.e.xual discrimination, that is, specifically discriminating against males. As a result, the company"s annual recruitment fair naturally attracted beautiful women from all around the country.

However, the company"s selection system to search for the best of the best is very strict and said to be arduous journey. The ladies that came to apply for employment must be beautiful, be a science graduate, have higher education such as holding a Master"s or Doctoral degree and most importantly ingrained with a phenomenal intelligence. In addition, they must be single. Their future spouse must be an individual linked with the business" operations. As the prior notion implied, they are highly encouraged to court and date their clients as much as possible.

Since women in this field are scarce at the moment, this company"s recruitment policy will undoubtedly compete in a rigorously pursue of all the female science graduates in the capital and bring them together under one umbrella. This would, inadvertently, eliminate all those older male science graduates.

Therefore, during the company"s annual meeting, with one president confronting hundreds of beautiful women, the scene resembled that of a crown prince selecting an imperial concubine.

Every day, these older "leftover women"—who are successful but has remained single—favorite hobby is to talk about their president and. They enjoyed it so much that none has yet to get tired of it.

Since the company"s new annual recruitment fair has just start a few days, there was an abundance of topics for them to discuss about to their heart"s content.

"Hey, did you hear about it? This year, the number of people at the recruitment fair doubled that of last year"s. The scene there was like attending an interview to get into Beijing Film Academy with one girl prettier than the next."

"What"s the use of only being beautiful? If she has no abilities, she"s completely useless! Last month, the new employee, Xiao Liang, who was recommended by the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, gave her letter of resignation after only a few days of working here."

"Please, she came running here purely for our president, thinking she could take this chance to snag a wealthy husband. In the end, our president didn"t give a d.a.m.n about her at all!"

"Who has our president ever given a d.a.m.n for, huh? Did he give a d.a.m.n about you? Did he give a d.a.m.n about you, huh?"

"No, I"ve been here for over a year now and still haven"t been able to say more than a few words to him."

"Exactly, what do you think our president is thinking? He used all means possible to recruit so many beautiful women here, yet he doesn"t give any of them a single glance. HA! They actually believed they"re here to just be a pretty face but instead, it"s to f.u.c.king work hard!"

"He is waiting, waiting for a person that"s able to touch his heart in a very deep way. Who knows when the day will come when a lucky young lady will be admired and captivated by him."

"I really pity that young lady. Think about it, our president is the son of a high-level general who has genuine talent and abilities, operates his own company, and most importantly, he"s also extremely handsome! This is the very definition of Mr. Perfect, tall, rich and handsome! Come on, if you were given this kind of man, would you be able to control him? Would you be able to endure it if a hundred or so pairs of eyes from all those beautiful women glared enviously at you every single day?"

"I also heard our president lives alone, never hires a housekeeper and, even better, he"s extremely skilled in cooking!"

"Oh my G.o.d! It"s so rare to encounter such a person even in a hundred year! I pity the young lady that he falls for even more!"

"Give me a break! If he really falls for you, you"ll immediately hide under your blanket and laugh your lungs out!"

"Hush!……stop talking, the president is coming."

With an expressionless face, Gu Hai walked through the sales department lounge and went directly into the office. Following promptly behind him was the vice president, who is also a young and beautiful lady, full of elegance and knowledge.

Not long after Gu Hai sauntered in, the work office that was quiet just a moment ago flared up with loud bustling noises again.

"Did you see it? Our Gu Zong[1] is wearing a purple shirt today."

"I saw it!! I saw it!! It matches his personality really well!"

"Hey, I really envy our vice president. She can freely go in and out of the president"s office as she wishes."

"How can we compare to her? She was personally scouted over here with a high salary by Gu Zong himself. Maybe she"s the young lady that has captivated him, but their situation hasn"t been made known to the public yet."  

"Don"t say that, I still have to endure two more years here, give me some f.u.c.king s.p.a.ce!"

Back in the office, Yan Ya Jing stood near the desk and handed Gu Hai a stack of doc.u.ments, "Sign this."

Without looking up at her, Gu Hai sensibly flipped through it for a moment, then signed his name boldly on the contract.  

Every time Yan Ya Jing witnessed Gu Hai signed his name, she would always sigh, deeply moved by the stroke and elegant of each character, "Gu Zong, why are your characters so beautifully written? How did you perfect it like that?"

Like clockwork, Gu Hai would always keep his lips sealed and never respond.

Already used to Gu Hai"s unresponsive att.i.tude, Yan Ja Jing grabbed a gla.s.s of water and sat across from him. She looked anomalously at his cold, harsh face for a minute then faintly said, "Gu Zong, why did you want to recruit such a large group of beautiful women here? Don"t you know by now? Every day, they talk about you behind your back. The other day, when I was on the elevator, I had the luck of hearing two employees talking about your muscles. They laughed and giggled to themselves, saying that it must be very firm and soft to the touch."

Still unperturbed, Gu Hai simply replied with an impa.s.sive tone, "If you hear it again, thank them for me."

"You!……" Yan Ya Jing feigned anger and looked at Gu Hai again, "You must like the feeling of being the center of attention, don"t you?"

"This is just one method to establish prestige and trust." Gu Hai said, his smile masked by a pretense that all is well.

After glaring at him from the corner of her eyes in disbelief for a second, Yan Ya Jing gave him a gla.s.s of water and continued their discussion.

"Oh yeah, Gu Zong, a transs.e.xual person applied for employment today."

At those unexpected words, Gu Hai nearly spew out the water in his mouth.

"Anyways, the point is, she is pretty good in all other aspect. That is, in the sense that she possessed a man"s mentality for new and innovative ideas, as well as a woman"s meticulous eye for details and patience. Such genuine talent is honestly hard to come by." Yan Ya Jing sternly said, her expression extremely serious as she recounted the person"s qualities in detail.  

"Recruit her for the sales department," Gu Hai faintly said, "Perhaps a client will take a liking to her."

"Hey, you rather recruit a transs.e.xual than to accept an all-around proper man with great credentials. Why do you hate men so much? But, I guess this is also a good thing, at the very least, it"s proof that you"re not GAY."

Gu Hai lifted his eyes to give Yan Ya Jing a quick glance that made her soft hair straighten, but after a few seconds later, his eyes returned to normal.

"Take out the meeting records from my computer and transmit the vital parts of the doc.u.ment over."

Remaining silent for a moment, Yan Ya Jing then placed the gla.s.s of water in her hand down and swiftly switched on Gu Hai"s computer. As per the company custom to maintain an efficient manner, she sorted the files and went through them all, but in the end, she could not find Gu Hai"s so-called meeting record.

"Gu Zong, there"s nothing here."

Gu Hai narrowed his eyes in contemplation, "It might be in my personal laptop since I took it to the meeting with me yesterday."

"Hmm……can I open it?" Yan Ya Jing asked trying to sound him out.

Without bothering to look at her, Gu Hai casually replied with a couple of words, "It"s up to you."

As a result, just as Yan Ya Jing flipped the laptop open, the desktop image immediately appeared. Seeing the large photograph displayed in front of her, she moved in closer for a better look before bursting out with a cheerful laughter.

"Gu Zong, seeing this picture of yours reminds me of when I first met you."

Fully aware of what the image was, Gu Hai did not raise his head. He was already used to this desktop background and, even though more than eight years has pa.s.sed by, he still has never changed it.

"Who"s this boy?" Yan Ya Jing asked without thinking much of it.

Gu Hai"s gaze finally swept towards the desktop. It was the image of a mischievous face that has been deeply etched in his memory from all those years ago, yet it was still so vivid in his mind as if it had just happened yesterday.

"He"s a……a brother that I have lost contact with for many years now."

"Lost contact? Why did you lose contact with him?"

After a moment of silent, Yan Ya Jing realized that Gu Hai was not willing to bring up this matter at all, so she cleverly changed the subject.

"Did you take this picture in Qingdao?"

This time, Gu Hai nodded, "Yeah, it was taken the year I ran into you in Qingdao."

Yan Ya Jing took another careful look at the photo again, and still she could not hold back her laughter.

"This photo looks really stupid. It reminds me of the halo of light that surrounds Buddha!"

Why does it feel like a Buddhist ceremony?

Have you ever seen such a handsome Buddhist monk before?

"Gu Zong? Gu Zong? Gu Hai!!" Yan Ya Jing shouted loudly.

As the loud voice entered his ears, Gu Hai pulled out of his thoughts and recovered his spirit. He looked squarely at Yan Ya Jing and asked, "What"s going on?"

There was a mysterious smile tugging at the corner of Yan Ya Jing"s lips, "There"s a question that I really want to ask you."

"Then ask," Gu Hai faintly said.

"When I sprayed perfume on you that time, was it effective or anything in particular happen?"

At those words, Gu Hai coldly smiled, "Write a letter of resignation and hand it to me tomorrow. I think I need to hire a new vice president."

Yan Ya Jing obediently shut her mouth and honestly retrieved the doc.u.ment from Gu Hai"s laptop.

Early morning in the prodigious Gobi Desert, the bitterly cold reigned throughout the normally sweltering wasteland, while the remnant of brilliant reddish orange flame streaked across the horizon.

A young and handsome Air Force Major, with keen and fierce eyes, coldly shouted, "Attack!"

In just a split second, a dozen or so war hawks whizzed towards the horizon, signaling the beginning of the Beijing Military Region Air Force"s long-range live ammunition a.s.sault training. This is not a simple one-time aviation training; their target is somewhere thousands of miles away in the vast barren desert.

Lurking everywhere were air-launched cruise missiles ready to intercept, electromagnetic interferences, and a one-time dogfight aircraft[1] entered the target"s area, waiting to greet them with a great deal of danger. This meticulous setup could be described as going in the same direction as a road paved with thistles and thorns, all prompt to kill the aircraft from all sides!

In his own invisible stealth aircraft, the Air Force Major led the entire attack formation, directly striking the ground missile battlefield.

"Accelerate and dive down!"

The Major"s firm command was like a heavyweight bomb exploding in each of the air force pilot"s ears.   

In a second, the Major"s stealth aircraft along with dozens of fighter aircrafts uniformly aligning across the sky dove to the ground in an alarming speed. As the aircrafts sped, the slow-paced camels roaming the Gobi Desert quickly dodged in front of the pilots" eyes. Each aircraft lifted the sand chaotically like a blade slicing across the its wings. A rocket blasted its raging flames directly towards the target. After rumbling burst of loud noises resonated throughout the area, the target was destroyed and reduced to a ten meters pile of sand.

After successfully completing the first stage of the mission, the Major emerged the c.o.c.kpit, took off his mask, revealing a handsome and willful face.

"Major, have a drink of water."

The Major took the water bottle, drank a few mouthfuls and threw the bottle back to the person in front of him, "Thanks."

"Major, how sure are you that we"ll have a chance to win this?"

Bai Luo Yin pulled back the corner of his lips, exposing a very rare and deadly smile.

"100%"

Translator"s Note:

[1] Gu Zong (President Gu) - the Gu is derived from zǒngjīnglǐ (总经理) , meaning CEO but in this case it means President. I"ll leave it as Gu Zong since I like the sound of it better.

[2] dogfight – an aerial battle between fighter aircraft, conducted at close range. Dogfighting first appeared during World War I, shortly after the invention of the airplane.

Are you Addicted?