Volume 1: The Year It Begins
Shang Zhitao slept soundly, and when she opened her eyes the next morning, she heard voices in the living room.
"Lunch together? Let's all get to know each other." That was Sun Yu. She loved making friends.
"Sure. I can't cook, so I'll handle buying groceries." Shang Zhitao recognized Yuanzhu's voice too. She jumped out of bed, dug out her underwear, threw on an oversized T-shirt, opened the door, and greeted them with a smile. "Are you guys having lunch?"
"Yeah. This is the first time the four of us in Room 601 have all been together, so let's do it over a meal." Sun Yu mentioned that her boyfriend had gone out to the suburbs of Beijing this week for a work project, so she didn't need to go see him.
"Can I join in too?" Shang Zhitao asked, since she liked having fun herself. Ever since arriving in the city, she'd wanted nothing more than to make friends.
Another boy she hadn't met laughed and said, "Of course." He was wearing a shirt with a company logo she recognized instantly, which caught her a little off guard. Beijing really was a city of hidden talent, crouching tigers and dragons everywhere. The ordinary person walking down the street might not be so ordinary after all.
"Let me introduce everyone!" Sun Yu played host. "Shang Zhitao, Sun Yuanzhu, Zhang Lei."
The group laughed. "Then let's go get groceries." Zhang Lei and Sun Yuanzhu volunteered to go shopping. Sun Yu stood at the window watching them leave, then turned back to Shang Zhitao. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No."
"Then you should get along fine with these two. They're both doing well for themselves. Real rising stars in the tech world."
Sun Yu was practical that way. In a city like this, one income wasn't as good as two, and if your partner made decent money, life got a lot easier. Shang Zhitao flushed. "I'm not in a hurry. I just graduated. I want to focus on work first."
"Work and love can happen at the same time, you know!"
Shang Zhitao waved her hands quickly. "No, don't, it's embarrassing enough living under the same roof as them."
Sun Yu laughed loudly. She was a sharp, spicy girl from Guizhou who loved playing matchmaker. Shang Zhitao genuinely had no such thoughts. Her mind was full of work, careful and cautious. "You know what? On my very first day, one of my bosses told me to quit."
"Did you offend him?"
"No..."
"Does he like you?"
"...He probably has no shortage of girlfriends..."
"Then why would he want you gone on your first day?"
Good question. Why indeed? Shang Zhitao had turned it over in her mind for days and still had no answer. Was it really just because she'd been the most unremarkable one in her hiring class? Maybe so.
She went to wash up and do her laundry. By the time she'd nearly finished, the boys were back, carrying four full bags of groceries. Shang Zhitao asked, "How much do I owe? Let's split it."
"No need, no need." Sun Yuanzhu smiled and shook his head. "We're roommates, let's not squabble over pocket change like it's a utility bill. We look out for each other out here. This little bit of money doesn't matter."
Zhang Lei shook his head too. "That'd be overthinking it. You can get the next one."
"Okay." Sun Yu tied on an apron and headed for the kitchen. "Let me show you what I've got."
"I... can only cook noodles..." Shang Zhitao said, a little embarrassed, since she had no real skills to show off.
"You handle the prep!" Sun Yu smiled and handed her some garlic, then turned to clean the fish and chop the ribs, her movements quick and practiced. The boys crowded at the kitchen door watching her hands fly and couldn't help exclaiming, "Not many girls can cook like this."
Shang Zhitao gave Sun Yu a thumbs up. "That's amazing." Sun Yu's face had flushed a light pink in the heat of the kitchen, her expression bright and clean, like a well-behaved star student.
Zhang Lei glanced at Sun Yuanzhu and cleared his throat.
"Can everyone handle spicy food?" Sun Yu asked.
"Sure can." Everyone nodded.
At that, Sun Yu dashed back to her room, grabbed a jar of chopped chili peppers, then shooed everyone out of the kitchen. "Out, out, you'll choke in here." She shut the kitchen door, and soon the smell of cooking filled the apartment. Shang Zhitao's nose twitched, and she suddenly felt like the loneliness of the past week had lifted.
Could it really be this easy to make friends in a city like this?
The four of them sat down together, everyone a little shy at first.
"Want a drink?" Sun Yu asked. She had a strong tolerance for alcohol, she said, joking that even at her first birthday celebration, relatives had poured her shots of sauce flavor liquor brewed in Moutai Town.
The boys nodded eagerly. Shang Zhitao apologized. "I can't drink."
"A girl from the Northeast who can't drink?" Zhang Lei asked.
"Then does everyone from Inner Mongolia know how to ride horses?" Shang Zhitao shot back.
"Fair enough, forget it then." Zhang Lei scratched the back of his head. "A gentleman doesn't push liquor on a girl unless she wants it herself." He got up to grab some Coke, while Sun Yuanzhu asked her a few more questions. "Cold, is that okay?"
"Sure."
They were all people making their way in a city that wasn't home, gathered from every direction, south and north, east and west. The distance between strangers disappeared, and they were all lumped together under one name: outsiders.
So the conversation rolled on, and even after talking from noon until evening, no one felt they'd had enough. What they talked about was interesting too. Shang Zhitao, still new to the working world, didn't have much to add, so she mostly listened.
It turned out there were more kinds of jobs than she'd realized.
Sun Yuanzhu worked in big data. He talked about the logic behind its applications and the kinds of problems it could solve. Sun Yu laughed, recalling how she and her coworkers had once slammed their laptops down on the conference table arguing over a piece of logic.
Zhang Lei did commercial development, dealing with different people every day. Business trips, market research, drinking, networking, all of it had sharpened his edge. In the years that followed, Shang Zhitao would meet plenty of business executives, and find that most of them reminded her of Zhang Lei. Zhang Lei himself would go on to become one of the big names in the field.
Sun Yu worked in sales. She'd previously worked at a top visual display company, but quit after her boss forced her to hand her clients over to other colleagues.
What an interesting bunch.
While washing dishes, Shang Zhitao's phone rang. She ran over to grab it and heard Lumi's voice. "Hey, I saw the payment process was nearly done yesterday. Remember to have Mr. Luan approve it by email!"
"Got it."
Shang Zhitao hung up, then remembered that Mr. Luan had mentioned having dinner plans and a concert the evening before. She checked the time, thought it over, and decided to message him anyway.
Hello Mr. Luan, the financial process for yesterday's project payment is underway. There's just one last email that needs your approval. Sorry to bother you.
He took a long time to reply, just a short "okay," nothing more. Still, relieved the matter was moving, Shang Zhitao opened her laptop to check for the email and wait for the final step, but Mr. Luan hadn't approved it even by nine that evening.
"Why hasn't he approved it yet?" Lumi asked her.
"I messaged him and he said okay. Maybe it's not a good time for him?" Shang Zhitao wasn't sure.
"Ask him again." Lumi pushed her, then softened. "Don't worry. You've got this."
"Okay."
Shang Zhitao sent Mr. Luan another message. "Hello Mr. Luan, would it be convenient for you to approve this?"
Not convenient. Luan Nian didn't reply. He tossed his phone back into his pocket. The concert was drawing to a close. Beside him, Jiang Lan was still watching intently. Deep down, Luan Nian was thoroughly sick of this dull weekend evening, but this client was a big one, hard to land, and the board had sent him to close it personally. He knew how to keep things measured, chatting with her about anything and everything, keeping just enough distance to seem interested without committing to anything. She wasn't foolish either, and even walking into the concert hall together, neither of them had given an inch. Luan Nian wasn't in any rush. Let it hang there a while longer. Even once the deal went through, it wasn't as though he'd be the one paying out of his own pocket, so why should he hurry?
But Shang Zhitao really wouldn't let it go. Another message came in. "Would it be convenient for you to approve it soon? Finance is waiting."
"Let her wait."
"...Understood."
"Something wrong?" The woman beside him leaned close to his ear, her voice soft, a hint of sensual perfume drifting over with her.
"Nothing."
"Thank you for coming to the concert with me." Jiang Lan's fingertips traced lightly across the back of his hand, soft and inviting. Luan Nian had seen plenty in his time, but he had no interest in Jiang Lan. He caught her wrist and slowly guided her hand back toward her own knee.
He wasn't some man for hire.
He wasn't for sale.