Chapter 13: Colleagues (Monthly Pass Requested)

Shen Siyuan took a car home, only to find Old Man Lu still pacing around downstairs.

Seeing Shen Siyuan return, she bowed slightly in greeting, but did not approach.

Shen Siyuan thought to himself, could it be that he still wants to play the long game, the emotional card?

Shen Siyuan had actually already decided in his heart to help him, of course not because he had a saint's heart, going soft just because the other party was an old man.

Rather, he wanted to try and see if helping someone like Old Man Lu fulfill a wish would also earn merit.

After all, pure souls like Watching Dou Dou are not that common, and most of them are children.

Just as Old Man Lu said, most people in this world are like him — having gone through countless temptations in life, it's almost impossible to be completely without guilt.

Correct them where there is fault; many people only learn to grow after going through things, which doesn't mean they are bad people.

Old Man Lu was exactly like that. When he was young, he did plenty of foolish things, but as he grew older, his thinking became more mature, and he slowly became the kind, benevolent Grandpa Lu in everyone's eyes.

Nothing in this world is achieved overnight; everything has a process. In this process, some people go astray and never come back, while others turn around and become a better version of themselves.

You can't call someone a bad person just because they took a wrong turn.

Where in this world is there an absolutely perfect person?

So Shen Siyuan wanted to try helping Old Man Lu and see if the Heavenly Dao would approve, but first he'd let him stew for a few days.

Early the next morning, Shen Siyuan arrived at the bus stop early, only to find Lin Manzhi already waiting for him there, straddling her bike and eating breakfast.

"I saw there was still plenty of time, so I bought breakfast on the way and got one for you too — have a rice ball?" Lin Manzhi said with easy grace.

She wore a pale blue short-sleeved top on top and fitted jeans on the bottom, which made her long legs look even longer; her hair was pulled up high, brimming with vitality.

They say a young matron full of girlish charm and a young girl full of matronly charm — these two types of people are the most captivating.

And Lin Manzhi now belonged to the first type, drawing countless glances from passersby.

"I'm not picky." Shen Siyuan didn't stand on ceremony, taking the rice ball Lin Manzhi handed over.

"I know you guys all like meat, so I added a sausage for you." There was a hint of smugness in Lin Manzhi's words.

"That's really thoughtful, Sister Manzhi — if you keep this up, I might just fall for you." Shen Siyuan said with a smile.

Then he hung the breakfast on the bike without eating it right away, and gestured for Lin Manzhi to get on so they could hit the road.

Lin Manzhi sat on the back of the bike; since she was wearing jeans, she chose to straddle it.

"Plenty of people love me — one more of you doesn't really count, does it?"

"Sister Manzhi, you really are confident." Shen Siyuan said, speechless.

"Can't be helped — born with beauty hard to discard." As soon as she finished speaking, she let out a burst of bright laughter.

Just then, a car beside them seemed unable to stand seeing this handsome guy and pretty girl chatting and laughing so early in the morning, and suddenly accelerated to overtake, scaring Shen Siyuan into slamming on the brakes.

Lin Manzhi, sitting in the back, crashed headfirst into Shen Siyuan's broad back due to the inertia.

Shen Siyuan stopped the bike, wanting to curse a couple of times, but the other car had already zipped off into the distance.

"Sister Manzhi, are you okay?" Shen Siyuan turned his head and asked.

"I'm fine, but I got your clothes dirty." Lin Manzhi reached out and kept gently patting his back.

From that sudden brake just now, Lin Manzhi had crashed into Shen Siyuan's back; because she was eating breakfast at the time, her mouth was covered in grease, and all of it got smeared onto Shen Siyuan's back.

As for a charge with the ball — that was completely nonexistent, because she was "flat-chested," which was her one flaw in an otherwise perfect picture.

"It's nothing…" Shen Siyuan continued on his way.

Then Lin Manzhi used tissues to wipe him down the whole way.

"What about that thing I mentioned — how have you thought it over?" Lin Manzhi suddenly said.

"What thing?"

"The blind date I'm setting you up with."

"Didn't we say forget about it?"

"Just meeting her won't cost you a piece of flesh."

"Sigh, why are you guys all so keen on setting people up?"

"Because we're all in the frying pan ourselves, so we want to drag you guys into the frying pan too." Lin Manzhi said with a smile.

"Sister Manzhi, you're really blunt — you don't really think that way, do you?"

"Of course I do. Is that not allowed?"

"Fine, whatever you say goes, Sister Manzhi — then I'll meet her?"

Shen Siyuan decided to just agree for now; otherwise Lin Manzhi would never give up on setting him up.

"Don't act like you're doing me a favor when you're the one benefiting — it's only because it's you. Have you ever seen me set up anyone else in our department?"

"Then I really should thank you."

"You're welcome."

Shen Siyuan: …

"Fine, joking aside, I'm serious — I think you're a decent guy, that's why I'm setting you up."

"I thought it was because I'm the best-looking."

Hearing this, Lin Manzhi laughed and gave Shen Siyuan's back a playful slap.

"You're pretty narcissistic yourself — just picking a general among the short, that's all. Those guys in the operations department — Tian Yunrui is too fat, Wang Chao is too narrow-minded, Zhou Chuan is already married, Li Kang isn't very bright…"

"Uh… Sister Manzhi, you really summed that up perfectly…"

"Of course — my taste is excellent. Only you catch my eye?"

"Thanks for the favor, sis."

"Then it's settled — I'll talk to my bestie today."

"Alright."

Having already agreed to meet her, Shen Siyuan stopped being coy about it.

When they reached the company entrance, Shen Siyuan let Lin Manzhi go in first while he chose to park the car.

After he parked the car and walked into the company munching on a rice ball, he ran into Ding Youguang from the Channel Department.

"Brother, good morning."

Ding Youguang was very enthusiastic, his smile on his face extremely brilliant.

He wasn't enthusiastic only toward Shen Siyuan; he was like this toward everyone, a typical social bandit.

He had originally stayed in the Netizen Operations Department for a while, so Shen Siyuan knew him very well.

"Don't smile like that; it looks a bit scary."

Ding Youguang leaned close and whispered, "Do you have time this Friday night? I'll treat you to a meal."

"Offering kindness without cause means either treachery or theft; what do you want to do?" Shen Siyuan looked at him suspiciously.

"Hehe, I have something I want to discuss with you," Ding Youguang said with a shameless smile.

"Good news?"

"Of course it's good news."

"Can good news fall to me?"

"Don't say that; we are brothers; could I possibly screw you over?" Ding Youguang said solemnly.

"Precisely because we are brothers, I'm afraid you'll stab me in the kidney."

The two joked as they got on the elevator, then each went to their own department.

However, when Ding Youguang turned around, Shen Siyuan called out to stop him.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't call me brother; you are older than me."

"It's nothing; it's just a form of address; don't take it to heart; if I meet a dog on the road, I'll call it Brother Dog too."

"Damn..."

Shen Siyuan directly raised his middle finger at him.

When he returned to the Operations Department, there weren't many people, because everyone almost clocked in right on the dot.

The farther one lived, the earlier one arrived; the closer one lived, the later one arrived.

Li Wenjuan was wiping the table with a rag; seeing Shen Siyuan enter, she immediately asked, "Do you want a rag to wipe the table?"

"No, my table isn't dirty."

Li Wenjuan's gaze turned to his computer screen, which was covered in dust; after turning off the computer, it was especially clear.

"You don't understand; you can't wipe the screen with a rag; it hurts the computer."

"I think you're just lazy."

Li Wenjuan took the rag, walked over, and wiped twice on Shen Siyuan's desk.

Shen Siyuan sat on the nearby chair, eating breakfast and watching her.

This Miss was quite nice, with long flowing hair and a slender figure; the only bad thing was a pale blue birthmark on the left side of her face; a large part of the reason she kept her hair long was to cover the birthmark.

She was a very cheerful little girl and was not inferior because of it.

There were quite a few suitors in the company, but her standards were quite high; she didn't like a single one.

Just then, since Shen Siyuan entered the room, Lin Manzhi, who had been burying her head and looking at her phone, stood up excitedly.

"Shen Siyuan, I have already made an appointment for you; how about this Saturday?"

"So efficient? But neither this Saturday nor Sunday works; I need to go back to my hometown."

Lin Manzhi thought for a moment and said, "Then how about this Friday night?"

Hearing this, Shen Siyuan thought of Ding Youguang's invitation just now, so he immediately nodded: "Friday works; I'm free on Friday."

"Then fine, it's settled; this Friday."

Lin Manzhi lowered her head and continued contacting her friend on her phone.

Shen Siyuan turned around but saw the dirty rag thrown on his table; Li Wenjuan had already returned to her own seat.