`` Thanks , '' Xu Zhuo grinned , `` Did you see that from my brilliant and brave leadership ? ''
"From your unchanged composure while being in the same room as Mr. Du," Luo Yuanshan replied.
Xu Zhuo was perplexed, "Mr. Du?" His quick mind connected the dots, "You mean Mr. Du, the one capable of killing with his eyes?"
Indeed, as rumored, he was not easy to mess with, but I never expected him to be so outstanding. A living example of "can rely on looks, but insists on talent."
He thought to himself, and it slipped out of his mouth involuntarily. When Luo Yuanshan heard this, she was extremely excited and leaned in close to him, "Do you also think Director Du is good-looking?"
Not understanding, Xu Zhuo nodded.
"Do you have any interest..." Her eyes sparkled abnormally, and she lowered her voice, "in joining our Du Director's fan club at Bingyou?"
Xu Zhuo was startled, "Is there such a thing? You guys are quite bold."
Luo Yuanshan chuckled and said, "Don't underestimate the combat power of our aesthetes."
"No need for a fan club," Xu Zhuo shook his head, "but if Director Du personally opens a training class, I would be interested."
Before switching to Bingyou, William had briefed him on the deeds of Du Ziyu.
Du Ziyu took office in a crisis and immediately cut off half of the management, then ruthlessly laid off a large number of middle and lower-level employees. Some employees knelt in the lobby, begging him to spare them, threatening to stab themselves and jump from the building to tarnish Du Ziyu's reputation, but Du Ziyu simply walked around him, not even sparing a glance.
Many of the fired management staff were company elders, and the old Director begged for them, but Du Ziyu simply held an all-staff meeting, with an expressionless face and a plain tone. The meaning of his words was chilling, and the old Director almost fainted when he heard about it.
Bingyou went through a major overhaul, and just the compensation for the fired employees cost a lot of money, severely damaging its vitality. The outside world gloated and speculated on when Bingyou would go bankrupt. However, Du Ziyu somehow managed to secure new funding and obtained two major international contracts, while also raising salaries to poach talents from other competitors, reviving Bingyou and giving it a new lease on life.
Xu Zhuo chose Bingyou partly out of admiration for Du Ziyu, but unfortunately, he never appeared in the media and rarely interacted with middle-level managers like Xu Zhuo, only occasionally seen by ordinary employees in the company. It took Xu Zhuo a week at Bingyou, and only today did he finally see Du Ziyu in person.
*
After studying the materials all afternoon, he made several calls to Laimate, persuading Manager Lin to have dinner together the next day.
He reflected on the situation this time and felt that he also had a responsibility. Bingyou's style of doing things was different from Yiguan, emphasizing a more assertive personality. Employees in each department not only focused on their own work, but also occasionally participated in the work of other departments. The advantage was closer connection between departments and stronger sense of cooperation, but the downside was the current situation, accidentally crossing boundaries and causing trouble.
As a new employee, Xu Zhuo had to quickly familiarize himself with many of the company’s affairs, so he worked late every day, often being the last to leave. Today, he was held back for a whole afternoon by Laimate's issue, and as expected, he had to work overtime until the early hours of the morning.
When he came out of the office, it was already past midnight, and the work area was deserted, with only the dim light in the corridor. Outside the large glass window, there was a raging storm with lightning and thunder. The rain had come so suddenly; during the day, the sky was clear, but it started drizzling in the evening, and twenty minutes ago, the observatory had issued a red alert for heavy rain. Xu Zhuo had to change his plans and leave work early.
It would take him 50 minutes to walk home from Bingyou, and with this kind of weather, umbrellas were useless, and the buses had already stopped running. He had to use a taxi app to order a ride as he made his way to the elevator.
"God is really testing me…" He had repeatedly tried to order a ride, but no one accepted the request. He helplessly put his phone back in his pocket and walked toward the elevator.
As the elevator arrived, he saw someone inside and almost choked on his own saliva when he looked up. "Director… Director Du," he covered his mouth and coughed uncontrollably for a while, feeling embarrassed. The big boss was also working late at this hour.
Du Ziyu was looking at his phone, and with some impatience, he replied with a simple "Mm," without looking up.
The elevator doors closed slowly, and it started descending. Xu Zhuo glanced at Du Ziyu from the corner of his eye. Although he still had that cold look, he felt like he was different from when they met at noon. It was as if... as if he was agitated and uneasy.
Xu Zhuo certainly wouldn’t be so foolish as to ask, otherwise, he would be seen as trying to get close to his boss.
Just as he was thinking this, the elevator suddenly shook and the lights went out. Caught off guard, the two of them lost their balance and hit the wall in the darkness with a heavy thud. Xu Zhuo felt his warm body pressed against someone else's, so instinctively, he grabbed the person's arm and called out, "Du—"
The elevator suddenly plummeted, and Xu Zhuo heard a scream as the person in his arms was pushed into him, their arms tightly wrapped around his waist. Du Ziyu's arm that Xu Zhuo was holding had somehow come loose, and his hands were now tightly embracing Xu Zhuo.
Startled for a brief moment, before he could react, their bodies, destabilized by the elevator's sudden movement, fell back. In a weightless state, they couldn’t stand firm and stumbled into a corner. In the chaos and fear, Xu Zhuo didn't have time to think and just felt the person in his arms shaking. Subconsciously, he also reached out and held the person tightly, securing Du Ziyu against himself with not even a tiny gap between them.
During those long moments, a sense of relief washed over them after surviving such a dire situation. As their heavy breathing gradually calmed down, their arms, initially catching each other, went limp, and the two of them slowly separated, seeming to finally realize what they were doing.
Du Ziyu pushed Xu Zhuo away, and Xu Zhuo's back hit the wall with a thud, but his first instinct was to apologize, "I'm sorry."
In the darkness, Du Ziyu remained silent.
Not daring to harbor any grievances against Director Du, Xu Zhuo carefully moved his body and limbs, feeling like he had been through a lot, but fortunately, he was not injured. He silently took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and went to the elevator door to make an emergency call, but it kept ringing without anyone answering.
Damn it! He cursed inwardly, then directly dialed the emergency number, only to find that there was no signal in the elevator.
He turned around and looked at Du Ziyu sitting in the corner, and honestly reported their current predicament.
Du Ziyu remained silent for a moment, murmuring to himself, "Now what?"
Xu Zhuo replied, "Let's wait a little longer. The security should be back soon; they must have gone out for something.”
With his arms on his knees and his head buried in between, Du Ziyu did not respond. His long limbs made this posture more vividly exhibit his superior body proportions.
Xu Zhuo spotted a cell phone on the floor and picked it up, then handed it to Du Ziyu, "Director Du?"
Du Ziyu raised his head, and a layer of cold sweat had formed on his forehead, his sweat-soaked hair sticking to his forehead, and his fair face devoid of any color.
Xu Zhuo furrowed his brow, "Director Du, are you alright?"
Without looking at him, Du Ziyu snatched the phone. The screen was already badly damaged, and he tried to turn it on, but it wouldn't light up no matter how hard he pressed. After a few tries, he got frustrated and threw the phone to the ground, then buried his head in his knees again, gripping the fabric of his pants with his ten fingers.
After contemplating for a moment, Xu Zhuo went back to sit down. Du Ziyu now looked like a ticking time bomb, about to explode at any moment, and it was better not to provoke him.
Sitting in opposite corners, Xu Zhuo, making use of the light, observed for a while and found that he shouldn't have been injured, so he turned off the flashlight and prepared to put the phone back in his pocket.
"Hey—" suddenly came a loud shout from the other side, momentarily interrupting his movement. After a pause, with a slightly softening tone that carried a hint of gnashing teeth, the person said, "Why did you turn off the light?"
Startled by his outburst, Xu Zhuo paused before answering, "The phone is running out of battery."
The elevator fell silent again, and Xu Zhuo listened carefully to the rapid breathing from the other side. After a while, the person broke the silence, "How much battery is left?"
Xu Zhuo didn't understand, "Ah?"
"Electricity," Du Ziyu was very impatient, "How much is left?"
Xu Zhuo: "20%."
He could hear the sound of swallowing, then Du Ziyu spoke again, "Then open it every now and then."
For the first time in a while, Xu Zhuo finally understood - Du Ziyu was afraid. Was it the darkness he feared, or sitting alone in the dark?
His voice softened unconsciously, "Do you want me to come over?"
"Don't come over!" Du Ziyu refused decisively, "Just turn on the lights."
"Okay, as you say." Xu Zhuo said, but shrugged helplessly behind his back.
Time passed, and every fifteen minutes Xu Zhuo would turn on the flashlight. The battery dropped from 20% all the way down to a precarious 5%. At that moment, there was a heavenly voice coming from outside the elevator.
"Is there anyone in the elevator?" A strange voice called out.
Xu Zhuo was delighted, "There are people! Two of them!"
Du Ziyu was even happier than him, the sound of his clothes rustling suggested that he had stood up. His voice was a little unsteady, "Tell them I'm here."
Xu Zhuo complied and shouted outside the elevator, "Mr. Du is inside!"
Perhaps due to the influence of the big boss, the efficiency of the repairmen was unusually high. After fiddling for a while, the lights inside the elevator came on and someone outside called to them, "Step away from the elevator door, you'll be out soon."
"Okay, thanks." Xu Zhuo replied, looking at his phone, it was almost 2 a.m.
"Do you have any tissue?" Xu Zhuo's train of thought was interrupted, Du Ziyu still maintained that commanding tone.
Who would carry tissue on them? Xu Zhuo thought and pretended to dig in his pocket, and to his surprise, he actually found some.
"I do," he brought them out, they were crumpled, two pieces of tissue from the tea room, he might have accidentally taken two extras and stuffed them in his pocket, "Do you want them?" He remembered that Du Ziyu was a neat freak.
To his surprise, Du Ziyu took them with an expression of disdain, neatly folded them and gently wiped the sweat from his face and neck.
Quite fastidious, Xu Zhuo thought, but his face did feel better, not as disheveled as before.
When the elevator door opened, Du Ziyu had already stuffed the wet tissues into his pocket, smoothed the wrinkles on his suit, and fixed his hair.
A stranger's head extended into the doorway, "Mr. Du!"
Du Ziyu stood up straight, his expression cold and stern, that invincible aura had returned. He simply "hmm" in response.
The elevator stopped between the sixth and fifth floors, and everyone decided to let Du Ziyu out first. The elevator floor and the sixth-floor level had a considerable gap, so it was somewhat difficult for Du Ziyu to climb up.
"Hey, handsome, lend a hand," a security guard said to Xu Zhuo.
Not thinking too much, Xu Zhuo propped up Du Ziyu's buttocks with one arm and put the other around his waist, and with a push, he helped him up.
Then the repairmen wanted to pull Xu Zhuo out, but he waved them off, "No need, just step aside." With that, he pushed himself up in the blink of an eye.
Several security guards and repairmen surrounded Du Ziyu, apologized profusely, and suggested calling an ambulance, but Du Ziyu remained silent and cold-faced.
Xu Zhuo secretly chuckled and ignored them, he called his night owl friend to come pick him up. As soon as he hung up, the phone automatically shut down due to low battery, completing its mission perfectly.
"Mr. Du, take care," a security guard bid farewell respectfully. Xu Zhuo looked up and saw that Du Ziyu had turned around and was preparing to leave.
It seemed that he noticed Xu Zhuo's gaze, glanced back at him, and Xu Zhuo froze on the spot.
In Du Ziyu's eyes, there was resentment.