Chapter 400

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

Inside the Lu Family Restaurant's hall, it was still extraordinarily lively at this moment.

The air in the hall intertwined with the aromas of various delicacies; every single scent hooked the glutton in one's belly, making it stir restlessly.

Every table was packed full, and there were even a few people carrying trays wandering around the hall, just waiting for those nearly finished eating to give up their seats.

Ma Wenliang carried the tray he had just collected, carefully threading his way through the hall, and only with difficulty squeezed into the seat his colleagues had saved for him and sat down.

He set down the tray in his hands, rubbed his hands together, and impatiently prepared to dig in.

"My goodness, there are more and more people at Lu Boss's place; our queue time is also quite a bit longer than before!"

Lv Bin beside Ma Wenliang picked up a piece of Red Braised Pork with his chopsticks, took a big mouthful of rice, and said with emotion while chewing.

"Yeah, I've been hungry from noon until now, so hungry I'm dizzy and seeing stars, almost low blood sugar."

Ma Wenliang picked up his chopsticks, and while speaking reached toward the Braised Beef Noodles in his own bowl.

He had just prepared to start eating when the mobile phone placed on the table suddenly vibrated twice.

He opened his phone to look; it was a voice message sent by Manager Wang Zhiqiang.

"Probably Eldest Brother is also starving; probably reminding me not to forget to bring him xiaolongbao."

Ma Wenliang smiled, clicked open the voice message with an unconcerned expression.

Immediately, Wang Zhiqiang's urgent voice burst out from the receiver.

"Wenliang! Emergency notice! General Manager Zhang blew up! You hurry up and notify everyone to come back and prepare for the afternoon meeting! Everyone must be back within fifteen minutes! Latecomers get half this month's bonus deducted!"

"Right, Wenliang, when you come back don't forget to bring me a portion of xiaolongbao, Fresh Meat Filling!"

This voice message made everyone eating at the dining table freeze.

The smile on Ma Wenliang's face froze; the chopsticks in his hand went "clatter" and fell onto the table.

"Fuck! Done for, done for! How come General Manager Zhang came to the company at this hour!"

"Hurry up and eat, eat fast and hurry back!"

"Fuck, I was counting on this month's bonus to buy my girlfriend a gift; if half gets deducted I'm screwed!"

"You guys wait for me, I'll be done eating right away!"

Instantly, those colleagues who had been eating leisurely all lowered their heads and started wolfing down their food in big mouthfuls.

A few who ate fast had already finished; they wiped their mouths, grabbed the mobile phones on the table, and rushed out.

"Wait for me! I'm done too!"

Lv Bin beside Ma Wenliang polished his off in a few quick moves; the food in his mouth hadn't even been swallowed yet, he grabbed his phone and followed those colleagues to run.

"Fuck! You guys wait for me! We'll go back together in a bit!"

Ma Wenliang got anxious, grabbed Lv Bin with one hand, and said with a very anxious tone.

"Brother Liang, sorry, I still owe the landlord a month's salary; I don't want my bonus deducted."

Lv Bin forcefully broke free of Ma Wenliang and ran out without looking back.

"No loyalty!"

Ma Wenliang watched the colleagues who had come together one by one quickly finish eating and leave, anxious like ants on a hot pan.

He had ordered Braised Beef Noodles; the freshly cooked soup noodles were still steaming with heat; eating fast would still burn his mouth.

But now he couldn't care about that; he could only pick up the noodles in his bowl and rapidly stuff them into his mouth.

The scalding noodles made him eat with a grimacing face, yet he didn't dare throw down the unfinished soup noodles and leave directly.

Although Manager's voice message just now urged very urgently, Ma Wenliang would rather endure his tongue going numb from the burns and still kept eating.

Last time Cheng Fan left without finishing, and as a result was put on the blacklist by Lu Boss; afterward he was never seen coming again.

He didn't want to lose the chance to come here and eat delicious food every day in the future.

With difficulty he finished drinking the last mouthful of noodle soup; Ma Wenliang's tears were almost scalded out.

But he merely casually wiped the soup juice from the corner of his mouth, picked up the xiaolongbao packed for Wang Zhiqiang, and swiftly ran out of the shop.

On the way back to the company, Ma Wenliang ran wildly all the way; by the time he reached the building downstairs, the back of his clothes was soaked through with sweat.

He arrived at the company gate panting heavily and glanced at the time on his mobile phone.

By now fifteen minutes had already passed; it was already past the time Wang Zhiqiang had said in the voice message.

"Done for, done for; this time I'm definitely getting chewed out, and my bonus will be deducted too……"

Ma Wenliang pushed open the company's main gate with a face full of despair.

He had just walked into the company when the front desk young lady saw him and immediately stood up, lowered her voice and said: "Brother Ma! How come you're only back now? General Manager Zhang was just asking where you were; his expression looked terrible!"

Hearing these words, Ma Wenliang's heart went "thump".

Originally he still held a fluke hope, thinking since so many people were late this time, with a bit of luck he might still muddle through.

But now, he had already been targeted by General Manager Zhang.

Looks like the bonus deduction can't be escaped this time.

Ma Wenliang turned his head to look at the Development Department hall; the seats were empty and deserted.

"People… where did everyone go?"

Ma Wenliang swallowed his saliva; the empty hall made his heart increasingly uneasy.

"Where else could they go?"

The front desk young lady pointed toward the conference room: "Five minutes ago, the boss called everyone to the conference room for a meeting; says it's a meeting, actually it's a scolding; don't believe me? Listen for yourself."

Ma Wenliang only now noticed that Zhang Haitao's anger-filled roars were faintly drifting from the conference room.

"Brother Ma, you're on your own."

The front desk young lady looked at Ma Wenliang and said with a face full of sympathy.

Ma Wenliang nodded, his steps heavy as if filled with lead, shuffling step by step to the conference room door.

Through the conference room gate, he heard Zhang Haitao's scolding voice inside.

"What time do you think it is! The project is about to go live, and this is your attitude! It's work hours, and not a single one of you is at your workstation — do you still have the company's rules in your eyes!"

Ma Wenliang took a deep breath, steeled himself, and reached out to push open the conference room door.

The sound of the door opening interrupted the lecture inside the conference room, and everyone's gazes shot in unison toward Ma Wenliang at the doorway.

The conference room was packed full; a few who couldn't fit were standing with heads lowered at the back of the conference room.

In the colleagues' eyes, some held sympathy, some held guilt.

Zhang Haitao, standing at the very front of the conference room, heard the movement and fixed his stare on Ma Wenliang; his already terrible mood now flared with anger that had nowhere to vent.

"Ma Wenliang! You still know to come back? Look at what time it is now!"

Zhang Haitao slammed the table heavily, the anger in his heart seeming to have found a new outlet: "Eating until now before coming back! You really treat the company like your own home, don't you! Is paying you a salary meant for you to loaf around like this! If you can work this job then work it, if you can't then go to HR and hand in your resignation letter!"